UC-NRLF 


SB 


BACKWARD   CHILDREN 


THE 

SPECIAL  CLASS  FOR 
BACKWARD  CHILDREN 


An  Educational  Experiment  con- 
ducted for  the  Instruction  of  Teachers 
and  Other  Students  of  Child  Welfare  by 
the  Psychological  Laboratory  and  Clinic 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 


Reported  by 
LIGHTNER  WITHER,  Ph.  D. 

Professor  of  Psychology, 

Director  of  the  Psychological  Laboratory  and  Clinic, 
University  of  Ponnsylvama 


THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  CLINIC  PRESS 

PHILADELPHIA 

1911 


COPYRIGHT,  1912 

BY  LlGHTNER  WlTMER 


TO     MISS    ELIZA    OTTO 

IN  GRATEFUL  ACKNOWLEDGMENT  OF 
THE  GENEROUS  CO-OPERATION  WHICH 
MADE  POSSIBLE  THE  CONDUCT  OF 
THIS  EXPERIMENT  AND  THE  PUBLI- 
CATION OF  THIS  VOLUME. 


285923 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  LABORATORY 
AND  CLINIC 


EDGAR  F.  SMITH,  PH.D.,  Sc.D.,  LL.D.,  Provost. 
JOSIAH  H.  PENNIMAN,  Pn.D.,  LL.D.,  Vice-Provost. 


LIGHTNER  WITMER,  PH.D.,  Professor  of  Psychology  and  Direc- 
tor of  the  Laboratory  and  Clinic. 

LABORATORY  STAFF 

EDWIN    B.    TWITMYER,    Pn.D.,    Assistant  Professor  of  Psychology 

and  Assistant  Director  of  the  Laboratory. 

FREDERICK  M.  URBAN,  PH.D.,  Assistant  Professor  of  Psychology. 
SAMUEL  WEILLER  FERNBERGER,  M.A.,  Instructor  in  Psychology. 
REUEL  HULL  SYLVESTER,  A.B.,  Harrison  Fellow. 

CLINIC  STAFF 

ARTHUR    HOLMES,     PH.D.,     Assistant  Professor  of  Psychology  and 

Assistant  Director  of  the  Clinic. 
SEYMOUR    DE\VITT    LUDLUM,    M.D.,    Instructor  in  Neurology  and 

N euro-pathology,  and  Lecturer  on  Psychology. 
WILLIAM  F.  CRAIG,  M.D. 
FRIEDA  E.  LIPPERT,  M.D. 

SOCIAL  SERVICE  DEPARTMENT 

LOUISE  STEVENS  BRYANT,  A.B.  in  charge. 

ANNETTA  GIBSON  McCALL. 

BERTHA  ANNA  ALTENEDER,  Recorder. 

EDUCATIONAL  DEPARTMENT 

(Summer  Session  1911) 
ELIZABETH  E.  FARRELL,  in  charge  of  special  class. 

Inspector  of  Ungraded  Classes,  New  York  City. 
ELIZABETH  A.  WALSH,  assistant. 
MARGARET  PFEIFFER,  assistant. 

vi 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  AUTHOR 

I.    MOTIVES  AND  AIMS Lightner  Witmer 

II.    THE  PURPOSE  AND  ORGANIZATION  OF 

THE  SPECAL  CLASS Arthur  Holmes 

III.  THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS    .   .    Arthur  Holmes 

IV.  THE  EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  .   .   .  Elizabeth  E.  Farrell 
V.    THE  WORK  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS  .   .   Elizabeth  E.  Farrell 

VI.    ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS  WITH 

STUDENT  OBSERVERS Elizabeth  E.  Farrell 

VII.    NUTRITION  AND  GROWTH Louise  Stevens  Bryant 

VIII.    REPORT    FROM    THE    SOCIAL    SERVICE 

DEPARTMENT Louise  Stevens  Bryant 

IX.  CLINICAL  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  THE  PRO- 
FESSIONAL TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS 
(and  Others  interested  in  Child  Wel- 
fare)  Lightner  Witmer 


Vll 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FRONTISPIECE.  THE  REST  HOUR. — On  the  Campus  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania  just  outside  the  Psychologi- 
cal Laboratory  in  College  Hall. 

I.  OPENING  SCHOOL. — Bible  Reading  followed  by  Talk 
on  Some  Topic  selected  for  the  Day. 

II.  EXPRESSIVE  WORK. — Writing  at  the  Blackboard, 
laying  Splints,  and  modelling  in  Clay. 

III.  EXPRESSIVE  WORK  IN   DETAIL. — Giving   back   the 

Talk  at  the  Opening  Exercises. 

IV.  MARCHING  DRILL. — To   line   up   as   shown  in  the 

Illustration  required  Four  or  Five  Weeks'  Work. 

V.  CORRECTIVE  GYMNASTICS. — Teaching  the  Children 
to  pick  up  their  Feet  in  Walking. 

VI.  CHINNING  THE  HORIZONTAL  BAR. — A  Satisfactory 
and  Inexpensive  Gymnasium. 

VII.   ATTENTION. — Control  of  Passive  Attention  through 
Holding  a  Position. 

VIII.  GRACE  BEFORE  MEAT. — The  Arrangement  of  the 
School  Room  Furniture  for  the  Mid-day  Meal. 

IX.  THE  REST  HOUR.— On  Rainy  Days  the  Children 
were  required  to  rest  indoors. 

X.  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  GYMNASIUM. — Most  of  the 
Boys  were  able  to  take  part  in  the  Gymnastic 
Drill. 

XI.  THE  SWIMMING  POOL. — Some  of  the  Boys  learned 
to  swim  and  dive. 

XII.   FOLK  DANCING. — Given  to  the  Younger  and  Less 
Expert  Children. 

XIII.  THE  STUDY  HOUR. — Reproducing  in  Sand  and 
through  Other  Hand  Work  Something  connected 
with  the  Central  Thought  of  the  Day's  Work. 

ix 


XIV.  THE  HOME  BUILDERS.— Each  Child  brought  a 
Box  and  out  of  it  constructed  a  House  according 
to  the  Dictates  of  his  own  Fancy. 

XV.  HAND  WORK.— Nine  Different  Kinds  of  Hand  Work 
are  shown  in  the  Illustration. 

XVI.  A  LESSON  IN  ARITHMETIC. — The  Game  of  Bean- 
Bag  is  employed  to  teach  Number. 

XVII.  ANOTHER  FORM  OF  THE  NUMBER  GAME. — The 
Child  learns  also  Co-ordination  and  how  to 
play. 

XVIII.  LINEAR  MEASURE.— Number  Work  with  the  Defi- 
nite Unit. 

XIX.  AREAS.— Number  Work  with  the  Definite  Unit 
(continued). 

XX.  THE  FIRST  NUMBER  LESSON.— The  Indefinite  Unit 
taught  through  Liquid  and  Linear  Measurement. 

XXI.-XXXII.  THE  CHILDREN'S  WORK. 

XXXIII.  A  SIMPLE  DEVICE  FOR  TESTING  INTELLIGENCE. 

XXXIV.  THREE  CHRONOSCOPES. 
XXXV.  THE  STUDENT  PERIMETER. 

XXXVI.  QUINCKE  TUBES  AFTER  TWITMYER. 
XXXVII.  MUSCLE  AND  NERVE. 
XXXVIII.  BRAIN  SPECIMENS  AND  MODELS. 
XXXIX.  SPRING  OR  WEIGHT  ERGOGRAPH. 
XL.  THE  RECORDING  INSTRUMENT. 
XLI.  THE  PLETHYSMOGRAPH. 

XLII.  APPARATUS  FOR  THE  STUDY  OF  VISUAL  PERCEP- 
TION. 

x 


BACKWARD  CHILDREN 


CHAPTER  I. 

"fOTIVES  AND   AIMS. 
Li'   LIGHTNER  WITHER. 

This  volume  may  appear  to  be  making  a  great  to-do 
about  little  or  nothing. 

It  is  all  about  eighteen  backward  children  who  were 
taught  in  a  special  class  for  six  weeks  during  the  sum- 
mer of  1911,  at  the  Psychological  Laboratory  and  Clinic 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

These  eighteen  children  were  all  of  them  more  or 
less  defective  mentally  and  physically.  Many  of  them 
had  moral  symptoms  which  aroused  grave  apprehension 
in  the  minds  of  those  concerned  for  their  future  welfare 
and  standing  in  society.  Very  few  of  them  inspired 
any  confidence  in  their  ability  to  maintain  themselves 
satisfactorily  by  their  own  exertions,  or  to  marry  and 
rear  normal  children. 

Why  then  devote  to  them  so  much  scientific  care  and 
training?  Why  all  the  exertions  of  the  Psychological 
Clinic  to  study  these  children  before  they  entered  the 
special  class?  Why  this  sending  of  trained  social 
workers  into  the  home  to  confer  with  parents?  Why 
obtain  the  opinions  and  advice  of  teachers  and  princi- 
pals in  the  schools  where  these  children  had  been  drag- 


2  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

ging  along  in  their  progress  through  the  grades?  Why 
call  to  our  aid  physicians,  hospitals,  medical  and  dental 
dispensaries,  and  why  in  some  instances  obtain  the 
financial  support  necessary  to  provide  home  care, 
discipline,  and  proper  nourishment? 

If  we  think  only  of  these  eighteen  children,  the  expen- 
diture of  time  and  money  cannot  be  justified,  unless 
our  sympathy  for  individual  cases  of  misery  is  so 
intense  that  every  expenditure  appears  justifiable. 

It  is  my  belief  that  sympathy  may  be  taken  for 
granted  as  a  compelling  motive  in  philanthropic  and 
social  work.  I  need  not,  then,  set  before  you  the 
unhappy  situation  of  children,  who,  through  no  fault 
of  their  own,  are  deprived  of  every  child's  right  to  a 
joyous  and  orthogenic  childhood, — doomed,  because  of 
inefficiency,  to  spend  their  adult  life  either  in  dire 
poverty  or  as  dependents  upon  the  consideration  and 
bounty  of  others. 

I  do  not  want  you  to  consider  the  individual  at 
all,  and  yet, — here  is  the  paradox, — it  is  only  through 
consideration  of  the  individual  that  we  can  expect  to 
understand  the  psychological  factors  which  determine 
human  progress.  I  mean  that  I  do  not  ask  your 
sympathy  for  these  children  as  individuals.  I  know 
they  will  receive  it  without  the  asking.  I  do  ask  that 
in  reading  this  volume  you  will  allow  the  opinion  to 
form  in  your  mind  that  it  is  through  the  direction  of 


MOTIVES  AND  AIMS.  8 

many  sciences  to  the  study  of  the  individual  that  we 
shall  finally  be  able  to  develop  an  educational  system 
which  will  actually  do  what  we  now  in  this  country  only 
pretend  we  are  doing,  namely,  give  an  adequate  educa- 
tion to  every  child.  The  instruction  of  this  special 
class,  and  this  volume,  which  presents  a  report  of 
many  details  of  the  work,  deal  with  these  eighteen 
children  as  specimens  of  childhood  which  you  will 
find  in  every  large  city  in  this  country,  and  in  many 
small  towns  and  villages. 

In  the  first  place  these  children  presented  mental 
and  physical  defects  which  required  scientific  in- 
vestigation and  scientific  instruction  to  overcome  or 
ameliorate.  When  these  defects  are  excessive,  the 
child  is  at  such  a  disadvantage  in  comparison  with  his 
fellows  that  he  may  be  designated  as  mentally  defective. 
There  are  150,000,  perhaps  300,000,  such  children  of 
school  age  in  the  United  States.  The  same  causes 
which  may  produce  mentally  defective  children,  will, 
when  operating  with  less  severity,  produce  children 
who  are  backward  in  their  progress  through  the  grades. 
There  are  in  the  United  States  5,000,000  children  who 
may  properly  be  designated  as  backward.^  Every 
person  interested  in  one  or  all  of  these  5,300,000 
children  should  learn  something  of  profit  from  the 
perusal  of  this  volume. 

It  would  seem  a  reasonable  proposition  that  a  cause 


4  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

which  in  one  child  may  produce  or  contribute  to  back- 
wardness, may,  in  another  child,  act  as  a  handicap, 
however  slight.  Children  who  outstrip  most  of  their 
companions  are  in  turn  outstripped  by  others.  Ex- 
amine these  entirely  normal  children  with  the  same 
care  with  which  we  examine  backward  children;  take 
the  same  precaution  to  remove  every  obstacle,  and  the 
children  to  whom  we  have  devoted  this  scientific 
forethought  will  advance  with  much  greater  ease  and 
rapidity. 

Then  there  is  the  child  of  more  than  average  ability; 
perhaps  he  may  even  have  the  making  of  a  man  of 
genius.  Every  scrap  of  brain  power  which  the  race 
possesses  should  be  conserved.  Our  schools  pay  so 
little  attention  to  children  of  exceptional  ability  that 
it  is  unfortunately  these  gifted  children  who  derive 
the  least  profit  from  the  public  schools.  I  mean  by 
this  that  their  individual  needs  are  less  adequately 
met.  The  child  at  the  head  of  his  class  may  neverthe- 
less be  the  most  backward  or  undeveloped  child  in  the 
class,  if  we  consider  what  might  have  been  done  for 
him  had  psychology  and  education  but  devoted  them- 
selves to  the  development  of  his  individual  faculties. 

You  cannot  be  interested  in  any  child,  mentally 
defective,  backward,  normal,  or  a  genius,  without 
finding  in  this  volume  points  of  view  and  methods  of 
treatment  which  may  be  of  service. 


MOTIVES  AND  AIMS.  5 

A  special  class  for  backward  children  is  not  of  greater 
interest  to  me  than  a  special  class  for  exceptionally 
gifted  children.  Indeed,  I  should  much  prefer  to 
assemble  a  group  of  gifted  children  for  the  purpose  of 
demonstrating  how  much  more  can  be  accomplished 
by  scientific  methods  than  is  being  accomplished  in  our 
public  schools  to-day.  I  will  be  frank  with  you  and 
say  that  the  only  reason  I  do  not  do  this  is  because  I 
do  not  know  how.  I  believe  nobody  knows  how  to-day. 
If  we  are  going  to  learn  how,  we  must  make  very  many 
preliminary  experiments,  one  step  at  a  time,  to  reach 
our  goal. 

The  first  step  toward  the  understanding  and  adequate 
training  of  normal  and  gifted  children  in  the  public 
schools  is  to  understand  the  problem  of  individual 
training  with  backward  and  mentally  defective  chil- 
dren. This  arises  from  the  fact  that  the  minds  of  these 
children  are  less  complicated  and  move  more  slowly 
than  the  minds  of  normal  or  gifted  children.  We 
are  therefore  able  to  learn  more  about  a  defective  child 
than  about  the  mind  of  a  normal  child,  and  we  shall 
acquire  the  necessary  knowledge  concerning  normal 
children  first  through  a  better  understanding  of  defec- 
tive children. 

This  is  why  I  would  appeal  to  your  intelligence 
rather  than  to  your  sympathy.  I  want  you  to  see 
that  the  importance  of  this  work  is  out  of  all 


6  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

proportion  to  the  importance  of  the  children  with 
whom  we  deal. 

This  volume,  then,  is  a  report  of  the  methods  and 
results  of  an  educational  experiment,  general  in  its 
ultimate  aim  though  specifically  directed  to  backward 
children.  Its  greatest  value  will  arise  from  the  fact 
that  it  is  a  contribution  to  the  body  of  psychological 
knowledge  which  should  be  possessed  by  every  teacher, 
by  every  parent,  and  (when  we  consider  that  education 
is  after  all  one  of  the  greatest  factors  in  social  progress) 
by  every  social  enthusiast,  every  clergyman,  some 
lawyers  and  many  physicians. 

Every  piece  of  work  derives  value  from  its  setting. 
The  publication  of  this  volume  fifty  years  ago  would 
have  been  meaningless.  To-day  we  hope  that  it  will 
play  a  part  in  helping  on  a  growing  movement.  The 
labors  of  many  others  in  this  and  related  fields  will 
assist  in  making  this  work  of  ours  available  to  society. 
This  we  may  call  the  external  relationship  of  our  work. 

There  is  also  a  group  of  internal  relations,  in  effect 
an  internal  organization.  If  we  had  done  nothing 
more  than  conduct  a  special  class  for  backward  chil- 
dren, we  should  have  accomplished  much  less  than  I 
believe  we  have  done.  The  actual  teaching  of  the 
special  class  was  an  educational  experiment,  a  sample 
of  what  special  instruction  should  be,  in  a  sense  a 
model,  which  we  hope  may  be  of  service  to  American 


MOTIVES  AND  AIMS.  7 

teachers;  but  this  educational  experiment  was  only 
a  small  part  of  a  much  larger  experiment.  The  Psy- 
chological Clinic  is  investigating  the  mental,  physical, 
and  environmental  causes  of  backwardness  and  defect. 
We  conducted  this  class  for  the  purpose  of  assisting 
us  in  this  investigation.  The  problem  primarily  deals 
with  the  development  of  the  human  mind,  and  there- 
fore falls  within  the  province  of  psychology.  I  believe 
that  the  development  of  investigation  in  this  direction 
can  best  be  done,  or  at  least  part  of  it  can  best  be  done, 
by  trained  psychologists  in  connection  with  the  labo- 
ratory resources  which  only  our  greater  universities  can 
afford.  Special  education,  therefore,  which  implies 
an  understanding  of  the  individual,  can  best  be  fostered 
by  a  university  department  of  psychology. 

Many  sciences  to-day  are  taking  on  a  social  aspect, — 
are  manifesting  a  social  direction.  Medicine  has 
outstripped  psychology  in  making  the  results  of  its 
research  directly  available  to  society.  It  is  only  the 
youth  of  the  science  which  makes  the  social  contribu- 
tions of  psychology  less  significant  than  those  of  medi- 
cine. The  Psychological  Clinic  sends  its  social  workers 
into  the  home,  not  only  to  discover  what  may  assist  us  in 
our  interpretation  of  the  mental  condition  of  the  child, 
but  also  to  educate  the  home,  to  make  parents  under- 
stand better  the  problems  presented  to  them  in  their 
children.  An  experiment  of  this  kind  will  be  a  halting 


8  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

one  unless  the  proper  measures  are  taken  to  articulate 
the  work  directly  with  the  social  forces  in  the  com- 
munity, under  which  I  include  the  homes  and  the 
schools,  as  well  as  with  the  many  special  agencies  for 
the  care  of  children  and  other  classes  in  the  community. 
In  the  conduct  of  our  special  class  the  Social  Service 
Department  maintained  a  contact  with  the  home  and 
the  school,  not  only  during  the  six  weeks  of  the  experi- 
ment, but  for  months  before  and  after. 

Another  important  feature  of  this  internal  organiza- 
tion is  the  relation  of  the  special  class  to  university 
instruction  in  psychology.  Modern  psychology  is 
taught  by  the  laboratory  method.  A  special  class  is 
a  kind  of  laboratory.  If  I  had  the  means,  I  would 
have  a  special  class  of  children  in  continuous  opera- 
tion as  one  of  the  most  necessary  bits  of  laboratory 
work,  for  the  instruction  of  my  students  as  well  as  for 
investigation.  Modern  psychology  is  a  genetic  science. 
We  must  therefore  be  prepared  to  study  the  mind  in 
process  of  growth.  We  can  best  impress  upon  our 
students  the  truths  of  modern  psychology  if  we  our- 
selves are  absorbed  in  working  out  problems  of  mental 
development. 

But  most  important  of  all  is  the  organization  of  this 
work  for  the  teaching  of  psychology  in  the  broad 
sense.  In  the  last  analysis  one  can  have  no  interest 
in  teaching  psychology  to  students  who  are  not  intend- 


MOTIVES  AND  AIMS.  9 

ing  to  use  it.  The  number  who  can  become  teachers 
of  psychology  in  our  universities,  colleges  and  normal 
schools,  is  limited,  but  the  number  who  can  use  psy- 
chology in  the  public  schools,  in  social  work  and  in  the 
home  is  unlimited.  We  have  therefore  set  ourselves 
the  task  of  teaching  a  modern  and  useful  psychology 
in  a  thoroughgoing  way,  through  systematic  courses, 
but  nevertheless  in  a  way  which  will  reach  the  intelli- 
gence and  the  interests  of  those  who  must  find  the 
science  directly  serviceable  in  their  life  work.  Of  all 
classes  in  the  community  whom  we  desire  to  reach  the 
teachers  are  the  most  important.  It  is  probably  fair  to 
say  that  as  a  learned  profession,  education  is  now  on  a 
level  with  the  other  learned  professions.  It  is  none  the 
less  fair  to  say  that  in  the  coming  years  the  relative 
importance  of  the  profession  of  education  will  increase. 
This  volume,  like  the  work  which  it  reports,  is  the 
work  of  many  hands.  The  general  responsibility  for 
the  conduct  of  the  experiment  and  for  the  collection 
of  the  data  rested  upon  Dr.  Holmes.  Dr.  Twitmyer 
gave  valuable  assistance  in  preparing  the  laboratory  for 
the  special  class,  in  the  purchase  of  material  and  in  the 
taking  of  many  photographs,  from  which  those  to  appear 
in  this  volume  have  been  selected.  The  special 
class  was  directly  in  charge  of  Miss  Farrell,  and  to 
her  we  are  indebted  also  for  the  report  on  the  edu- 
cational organization  and  the  conduct  of  the  class 


10  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

contained  in  this  volume,  as  well  as  for  the  very  impor- 
tant chapter  on  the  discussions  with  students  in  the 
observation  class.  Miss  Farrell  was  ably  assisted  in 
her  work  by  Miss  Walsh  and  Mrs.  Pfeiffer.  Mr.  Oscar 
E.  Gerney,  instructor  in  the  University  Gymnasium, 
taught  the  boys  gymnastics  and  contributed  a  brief 
but  illuminating  report  of  their  progress  under  his  in- 
struction. 

The  social  service  reports  were  prepared  by  Mrs. 
Bryant  with  the  assistance  of  Miss  McCall.  We  are 
also  indebted  to  Dr.  Lippert  for  some  of  the  physical 
tests  and  for  acting  as  medical  inspector  for  the 
children  in  this  class.  To  Dr.  Ludlum  and  Dr. 
Corson- White  we  are  indebted  for  serum  and  other 
tests.  To  the  many  physicians  connected  with  dis- 
pensaries and  hospitals  in  this  city  who  have  given 
generous  assistance,  we  are  under  a  heavy  debt  of 
gratitude. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  PURPOSE  AND  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE 
SPECIAL  CLASS. 

BY  ARTHUR  HOLMES. 

Since  the  general  awakening  of  interest  in  the  mod- 
ern science  of  psychology,  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, like  most  of  the  larger  institutions  of  learning 
in  this  country,  has  taken  part  in  developing  a  new 
type  of  psychology  with  new  content,  new  methods 
and  new  purposes.  Under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Lightner 
Witmer  the  Psychological  Laboratory  here  has  also 
given  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  the  preparation  of 
the  teacher  for  more  efficient  professional  work.  As 
early  as  December,  1896,  he  outlined,  in  an  address  de- 
livered before  the  American  Psychological  Association, 
a  scheme  of  practical  work  in  "clinical  psychology" 
which  included  the  investigation  of  the  mental  develop- 
ment of  school  children  and  the  organization  of  a 
Psychological  Clinic,  offering  an  opportunity  for  ob- 
servation and  also  giving  practical  training  in  a  new 
profession,  that  of  the  psychological  expert.  In  1897, 
during  the  four  weeks'  course  of  the  Summer  School, 
Dr.  Witmer  was  able  to  put  the  larger  part  of  this  plan 
into  operation.  The  Psychological  Clinic  was  organ- 

(ii) 


12  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

ized  and  conducted  daily  and  with  it  the  first  day 
class  for  backward  children  in  Philadelphia  under  the 
instruction  of  a  specially  trained  teacher.  At  the  Clinic, 
children  were  presented  suffering  from  defects  of 
the  sense  organs,  of  memory,  of  attention  and  motor 
expression,  and  in  the  training  school  the  children  were 
taught  throughout  the  session  of  the  Summer  School  and 
received  pedagogical  treatment  for  the  cure  of  defects 
of  speech,  of  written  language  and  motor  expression.* 
The  educational  experiment  was  entirely  successful 
both  in  the  effect  upon  the  children  treated  and  in  the 
value  of  the  results  to  those  interested  professionally 
in  the  work. 

On  account  of  lack  of  funds,  the  special  class  was  not 
again  organized  until  1907,  when  a  group  of  back- 
ward and  mentally  defective  children  were  gathered 
together  during  the  Summer  School  period  of  that 
year  and  given  special  instruction  in  the  rudiments 
of  intellectual  work  and  in  manual  training.  In  general 
the  same  methods  were  pursued  as  in  1897.  The  good 
results  accomplished  by  this  experiment  led  Dr.  Wit- 
mer  to  repeat  the  class  in  the  summer  term  of  1908. 
In  1909,  no  special  educational  work  was  attempted, 
but  in  1910  a  class  with  distinctively  new  features  was 
organized  and  conducted.  In  order  to  reach  a  wider 
group  of  workers  than  the  observers  present  at  the 


*  See  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  CLINIC,  Vol.  I,  No.  1,  Mar.  15,  1907,  p.  5. 


ORGANIZATION.  13 

Summer  School,  a  report  of  the  work  with  this  class 
was  published  in  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  CLINIC,  Vol.  IV, 
No.  6,  November  15,  1910,  under  the  caption,  "An 
Educational  Experiment  with  Troublesome  Adoles- 
cent Boys." 

For  the  session  of  1911  Dr.  Witmer  proposed  the  most 
highly  organized  special  class  yet  attempted.  Not 
only  did  he  propose  the  organization,  but  worked  out 
the  general  plan,  anticipated  many  of  the  details, 
and  secured  the  necessary  financial  support.  In  deter- 
mining the  kind  of  class  that  should  be  organized 
several  objects  were  kept  in  mind  which  might  be 
classified  as  philanthropic,  social,  and  pedagogical. 

Here,  as  in  all  the  previous  special  classes,  the  good 
of  the  children  was  the  first  and  chief  consideration. 
To  this  end  each  child  selected  for  the  class  was  to 
be  put  into  the  very  best  physical  condition  posssible 
before  entrance  into  the  class,  so  that  he  could  profit 
fully  by  his  experience.  During  the  six  weeks,  he  was 
to  be  under  the  most  intelligent  training  and  in  the 
most  appropriate  environment  that  could  be  secured. 
His  daily  regimen  was  to  be  regulated  both  in  the  home 
and  in  the  class.  From  nine  in  the  morning  until  four 
in  the  afternoon  he  was  to  be  placed  under  the  direc- 
tion of  teachers  specially  fitted  for  their  work  and  with 
appliances  at  hand  sufficient  for  all  his  needs;  and  the 
rest  of  the  day  he  was  to  be  carefully  watched  at  home. 


14  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

If  his  home  was  not  the  best,  arrangements  were  made 
to  place  him  in  a  boarding  house  where  his  diet  and  bod- 
ily care  could  be  supervised.  As  in  former  seasons  the 
class  was  to  be  made  up  of  exceptional  children,  but 
admission  to  it  was  not  restricted  to  any  one  type.  The 
mentally  retarded  and  the  precocious,  the  well-behaved 
and  the  morally  delinquent  were  all  represented,  and  as 
much  improvement  wrought  in  them  as  their  natural  en- 
dowments permitted.  The  project  was  philanthropic 
in  that  it  considered  the  welfare  of  the  individual. 

The  class  was  so  organized  as  to  furnish  an  oppor- 
tunity for  the  scientific  observation  of  results  during 
six  weeks  of  first-rate  care  and  training.  To  demon- 
strate just  how  much  could  be  done  for  a  group  of  back- 
ward children  would  be  valuable  not  only  to  those 
directly  interested  in  clinical  psychology,  but  as  an 
object  lesson  it  would  interest  also  the  child-welfare 
workers  of  the  country.  It  was  expected  to  draw 
attention  to  the  necessity  for  systematic,  all-round  care 
for  every  child.  To  obtain  results  within  so  short  a 
time  as  six  weeks,  not  only  must  the  daily  environ- 
ment of  the  children  be  made  as  nearly  ideal  as  possible, 
but  the  children  themselves  must  be  made  as  physi- 
cally and  mentally  fit  as  possible.  In  respect,  therefore, 
to  both  results  and  methods,  the  work  proposed  was 
to  be  not  only  individually  philanthropic,  but  scientific- 
ally and  socially  profitable. 


ORGANIZATION.  15 

The  pedagogical  purposes  were  so  many,  and  so 
mingled  with  the  social  aims,  that  it  is  hard  to  separate 
them.  The  first  consideration,  of  course,  was  for  the 
teachers  who  gather  from  all  parts  of  the  country  at 
the  Summer  School.  To  them  the  experiment  would 
furnish  a  unique  opportunity  to  observe  a  model  class 
of  exceptional  children,  belonging  to  all  types,  being 
trained  according  to  the  most  advanced  principles  and 
methods,  under  special  teachers  chosen  from  the  pub- 
lic school  system  and  with  the  co-operation  of  several 
child-helping  agencies  of  which  the  Psychological  Clinic 
was  the  center.  Great  as  would  be  the  profit  to  the 
teachers,  it  was  believed  that  the  profit  to  the  cause 
of  education  would  be  even  greater.  For,  without 
any  pretense  of  having  reached  perfection,  this  com- 
prehensive organization  could  offer  itself  as  a  sugges- 
tion of  what  might  well  be  copied  wholly  or  in  part 
in  many  cities  where  the  exceptional  child  problem  is 
acute. 

Further,  the  experiment  was  designed  to  indicate 
on  what  financial  and  pedagogical  scale  the  work  in 
the  special  classes  should  be  conducted  in  order  to 
secure  results  commensurate  with  the  need.  The  very 
best  teacher  who  could  be  secured  was  to  be  put  in 
charge,  with  at  least  two  of  her  own  assistants.  While 
this  force  of  three  expert  teachers  was  not  at  all  neces- 
sary for  the  conduct  of  the  class  as  a  class,  they  were 


16  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

needed  in  order  to  organize  it  thoroughly,  to  secure 
the  equipment  and  to  attend  to  the  daily  outside 
duties  connected  with  the  students  of  the  Summer 
School  in  the  observation  class.  In  addition  to  these 
duties  still  others  would  devolve  upon  them  in  the 
hourly  care  of  the  children  from  nine  in  the  morning 
until  four  in  the  afternoon,  including  the  rest  period 
and  the  hour  of  luncheon,  which  was  served  in  the 
school  rooms.  The  daily  program,  offering  a  great 
variety  of  activities,  was  sufficient  to  occupy  fully  the 
time  of  the  three  women  in  charge,  though  once  such 
a  class  is  in  operation  in  a  public  school  system,  certain 
functions  would  naturally  be  assumed  by  the  school- 
nurse  or  some  other  person,  and  the  teaching  staff 
could  be  reduced. 

To  show  the  justification  for  spending  money  on 
this  work  was  a  leading  purpose  of  the  experiment. 
The  cost  of  conducting  such  a  special  class  as  this 
for  so  short  a  time  under  the  conditions  existing  in 
the  Psychological  Laboratory  is,  of  course,  many  times 
what  it  would  be  in  a  regular  public  school  already 
equipped  for  the  work.  But  the  good  results  gained  by 
this  comparatively  expensive  experiment,  it  was  hoped, 
would  be  so  great  that  they  would  inspire  more  liberal 
expenditures  in  all  other  special  classes. 

Besides  the  appeal  to  be  made  to  those  particularly 
interested  in  the  conduct  of  classes,  an  appeal  was 


ORGANIZATION.  17 

also  directed  to  that  wider  body  of  people  who  support 
the  schools,— the  public  who  pay  the  taxes.  We  still 
hope  that  the  results  attained  will  be  of  such  general 
interest  that  the  publication  will  reach  a  larger  con- 
tingency than  the  professional  teacher  or  school 
administrator.  It  did  not  appear  to  us  unreasonable 
to  suppose  that  the  ordinary  man  or  woman,  and 
especially  the  one  who  has  a  backward  or  mentally 
defective  child  in  the  home, — and  in  America  there  are 
150,000  to  300,000  of  the  latter  and  about  5,000,000 
of  the  former, — would  see  the  justification  of  making 
far  more  extensive  and  intensive  preparations  for  deal- 
ing with  the  immense  problem  of  the  backward  child. 
The  provision  is  so  inadequate  for  present  needs  and  so 
far  from  meeting  the  rapidly  increasing  demands,  that 
undoubtedly  for  some  years  to  come  a  large  number  of 
high  grade  mental  defectives  must  be  taken  care  of 
in  the  public  schools.  This  will  necessitate  the  most 
intensive  pedagogical  methods  and  will  demand 
teachers  specially  trained  for  the  work  and  supported 
with  equipment  and  methods  of  teaching  similar  to 
those  illustrated  during  the  summer  in  our  special 
class.  Therefore,  in  addition  to  an  educational  demon- 
stration; we  hope  to  make  a  strong  philanthropic  appeal 
for  this  particular  class  of  children. 

Finally,  another  purpose  loomed  large  in  the  minds 
of  the  promoters  of  this  special  effort.    It  was  an  objec- 


18  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

tive,  not  so  concrete  as  any  of  the  preceding  ones 
named,  and  yet  in  its  future  effects  probably  the  most 
far-reaching  and  important  of  all.  By  means  of  this 
concrete  illustration  we  intended  to  demonstrate  the 
need  of  a  psychological  clinic  in  any  urban  school 
system  where  special  classes  are  conducted.  To  show 
clearly  this  vital  necessity,  all  the  children  of  the  group 
were  to  be  carefully  examined  at  the  Psychological  Clinic, 
their  physical  defects  as  far  as  possible  removed  by  medi- 
cal and  surgical  treatment,  and  the  nature  of  their  peda- 
gogical training  prescribed  by  a  mental  examination  and 
classification.  Everything  possible  was  to  be  done  in 
in  order  to  present  them  to  the  teachers  of  the  special  class 
in  the  very  best  condition  for  immediate  improvement. 
As  a  result  of  this  preparation  far  better  results  would  be 
secured  in  the  six  weeks  of  intensive  education  than 
could  have  possibly  been  obtained  had  the  children 
been  placed  indiscriminately  in  the  hands  of  their  teach- 
ers. While  the  experiment,  in  this  one  particular,  was 
to  be  performed  under  extraordinarily  favorable  con- 
ditions, in  that  the  special  class  was  to  be  held  in  the 
same  building  as  the  Psychological  Clinic,  nevertheless, 
it  would  clearly  demonstrate  the  possibility  of  such  co- 
operation between  any  psychological  clinic  and  any 
school  system  in  the  same  city.  This  accidental 
propinquity  ought  not  to  affect  general  conclusions 
concerning  the  efficacy  of  such  a  federation  of  activities. 


ORGANIZATION.  19 

As  a  further  demonstration  of  the  value  of  this  same  co- 
operation, it  might  be  well  to  mention  that  several 
minor  experiments  have  been  performed  with  actual 
special  classes  in  public  schools  and  the  results  of  this 
work  will  probably  appear  later  in  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL 
CLINIC. 

To  sum  up,  this  class  was  to  be  the  focal  point  of 
all  experience  with  special  classes  from  the  first  in 
1897,  joined  with  the  experience  gained  in  the  Psycho- 
logical Clinic  from  1896,  augmented  and  systematized 
by  the  courses  of  instruction  and  the  methods  of 
original  research  worked  out  in  the  Psychological 
Laboratory  under  Dr.  Witmer's  direction  during  the 
last  two  decades.  All  this  experience  was  utilized  for 
the  supreme  purpose  of  organizing  and  conducting  a 
model  class  under  ideal  conditions  for  the  purpose  of 
benefiting  first  the  children  themselves,  secondly,  all 
the  welfare  workers  with  children,  and  thirdly,  the 
teachers  of  the  country. 

With  such  an  ideal  in  mind  it  was  obligatory  for  us 
to  secure  a  teacher  of  the  necessary  ability  to  put  into 
practical  operation  the  underlying  principles  of  the 
experiment.  Knowing  the  importance  of  the  teacher 
above  every  other  factor,  Dr.  Witmer  spent  much  time 
and  consideration  before  choosing  the  person  to  be 
intrusted  with  this  most  important  piece  of  demon- 
strative and  intensive  training.  Finally  he  determined 


20  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

to  ask  Miss  Elizabeth  E.  Farrell,  of  New  York  City, 
with  such  assistants  as  she  might  choose  to  undertake 
the  work.  Fortunately  she  was  able  to  accept  the 
invitation  and  the  results  abundantly  prove  that  the 
selection  made  was  as  nearly  ideal  as  possible. 

Miss  Farrell  is  Supervisor  of  Ungraded  Classes  in 
New  York  City.  By  preparation  and  training  she  has 
been  particularly  fitted  for  this  work.  A  graduate  of 
New  York  University  in  1905,  with  postgraduate  work 
both  here  and  abroad  in  psychology  and  psychiatry, 
she  has  a  knowledge  of  mental  development  and  mental 
defect  and  disease  which  is  essential  to  the  intelligent 
supervision  of  the  new  type  of  public  school.  As  the 
representative  of  the  New  York  City  Board  of  Educa- 
tion she  visited  special  schools  in  England  and  France 
in  1903,  and  again  in  a  similar  capacity  in  1908  she  in- 
vestigated the  auxiliary  schools  of  Germany  and  the 
special  schools  of  Belgium. 

In  addition  to  all  her  other  qualifications  of  pre- 
paration and  personality,  Miss  Farrell  brought  to  her 
work  at  the  Summer  School  the  most  unusual  equip- 
ment of  splendid  executive  and  administrative  ability, 
coupled  with  the  power  of  addressing  an  audience 
clearly  and  forcibly.  As  a  result  she  not  only  made  a 
most  efficient  organization  of  the  special  class,  but  she 
was  able  also  by  her  practical  talks  to  the  students  in 
the  observation  class  to  set  forth  clearly  the  underlying 


ORGANIZATION.  21 

motives  of  every  stage  of  her  work  and  every  activity 
of  the  children.  She  dwelt  constantly  upon  the  pys- 
chology  of  the  children  with  such  force  and  vividness, 
that  she  set  the  teachers  to  thinking  of  then-  school- 
room problems  in  a  new  and  stimulating  way.  Such 
superficialities  as  material  equipment  and  methods  of 
class  teaching  she  passed  over  as  being  merely  inci- 
dental means  to  an  end,  depending  upon  place  and 
circumstances,  and  made  it  clear  that  if  any  teacher 
of  normal  ingenuity  seized  upon  the  real  thing,  namely, 
the  development  of  the  individual  child,  such  things 
as  methods  and  equipment  would  right  themselves. 

Miss  Farrell  brought  with  her  two  of  her  assistants, 
Mrs.  Margaret  Pfeiffer  and  Miss  Elizabeth  A.  Walsh. 
Mrs.  Pfeiffer  had  special  charge  of  the  manual  training. 
She  is  a  teacher  of  an  ungraded  class  in  Brooklyn, 
New  York.  Her  academic  preparation  was  received 
chiefly  at  the  University  of  New  York,  where  she  was 
a  student  in  psycho-physiology  in  1906  and  1907. 
During  the  latter  year  she  was  a  special  student  of 
articulation  under  Professor  Steigner,  of  the  People's 
Institute  of  New  York  City.  In  1908-09  she  devoted 
a  year  to  specializing  in  manual  work  for  defective 
children  at  the  Brooklyn  Institute  of  Arts  and  Science. 

Mrs.  Pfeiffer's  theory  of  manual  training  and  its 
place  in  the  education  of  defective  children  was  quite 
in  accord  with  the  general  ideas  of  Miss  Farrell.  The 


22  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

material  product  of  a  child's  efforts  in  no  wise  measured 
her  work  with  that  child.  Very  little  emphasis,  in 
fact,  was  placed  upon  what  is  usually  considered 
fundamental  and  essential  in  manual  training.  The 
usual  methods,  of  course,  were  pursued;  lines  were 
marked  out  upon  the  wood,  and  the  child  was  expected 
to  follow  them  as  nearly  as  possible,  but  when  he  had 
done  what  he  was  told,  the  work  performed  was  not 
the  straight  edge  he  had  made,  but  his  new  ability  to 
receive  a  command  and  carry  it  out.  If  in  time  his 
lines  became  more  nearly  straight,  his  planed  surfaces 
more  nearly  smooth,  these  improvements  were  not  taken 
as  the  whole  effect  of  his  training,  but  were  considered 
merely  as  indicative  of  the  fact  that  the  child  himself 
was  developing.  In  order,  therefore,  to  secure  this 
development,  and  to  gauge  it  by  tangible  results,  each 
child  was  permitted  to  follow  some  line  of  work  which 
he  enjoyed  and  in  which  he  was  interested.  His  first 
attempt  to  make  some  definite  thing,  no  matter  how 
crude  or  clumsy  it  was,  was  nailed  upon  the  exhibition 
screen  with  the  work  of  the  rest  of  the  children.  He  was 
urged  to  take  delight  in  the  fact  that  he  had  completed 
something,  that  he  had  made  progress,  that  his  efforts 
had  met  with  some  measure  of  success.  The  emphasis, 
therefore,  upon  results  was  always  brought  back  to 
terms  of  the  individual  development  of  the  child,  and 
not  to  mere  material  and  mechanical  products. 


ORGANIZATION.  23 

To  Miss  Elizabeth  Walsh,  the  other  assistant,  was 
delegated  the  conduct  of  the  daily  classes  in  their 
kindergarten  work.  Miss  Walsh,  like  her  co-workers, 
was  well  fitted  for  her  task  by  long  preparation  and 
experience.  She  began  her  career  as  a  teacher  in  the 
House  of  Refuge  in  New  York  City,  and  from  the  first 
continued  to  give  her  entire  attention  to  special  classes 
of  children.  She  has  had  charge  of  special  classes  at 
Binghamton,  New  York,  and  at  present  has  charge 
of  an  ungraded  class  in  New  York  City.  She  spent 
one  term  in  the  study  of  handwork  for  defective  chil- 
dren at  the  Chautauqua  Summer  School,  and  in  order 
to  fit  herself  more  completely  for  the  real  problems 
of  teaching  backward  children,  she  became  a  student 
in  psychology  at  Columbia  University.  Later  she 
specialized  in  sloyd  work  at  the  College  of  the  City  of 
New  York,  and  hi  articulation  at  the  People's  Insti- 
tute, under  Professor  Steigner. 

Miss  Walsh,  no  less  than  Miss  Farrell  and  Mrs. 
Pfeiffer,  realizes  that  in  order  to  make  a  success  of  the 
teacher's  profession  she  must  never  cease  preparing 
for  it.  While  the  facts  mentioned  above  indicate  par- 
ticular phases  of  her  experience,  her  preparation  has 
been  continuous.  During  the  summer  session  an  impor- 
tant task  was  to  reduce  the  chaotic  and  incoordinate 
movements  of  the  children  to  some  order  and  system. 
This  she  did  by  appealing  to  their  instinctive  love  of 


24  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

rhythm,  a  tendency  in  human  nature  which  expresses 
itself  in  the  wave-like  changes  of  attention,  in  the  beat 
of  the  heart,  in  the  drum-paced  march  of  the  soldier, 
or  the  songs  of  group  laborers.  To  supply  rhythm  of 
effort  and  attention  where  it  was  congenitally  lacking 
was  the  task  of  Miss  Walsh,  and  for  this  purpose  she 
used  the  piano,  songs  illustrated  by  gestures,  folk- 
dancing,  and  similar  devices,  until  the  pleasure  of 
keeping  time  brought  about  the  desired  co-ordination. 
Necessary  as  all  these  items  of  equipment  are,  never- 
theless, it  remains  true  that  the  success  of  Miss  Farrell 
and  her  assistants  depended  ultimately  upon  their 
fundamental  psychological  viewpoint.  They  looked 
upon  their  work  as  a  part  of  a  consistent  whole;  they 
recognized  clearly  that  to  deal  intelligently  with  the 
children  in  their  hands  it  was  necessary  to  make  a 
psychological  study  of  each  individual  child,  and  they 
were  quite  ready  to  receive  the  diagnosis  of  each  child's 
mentality  already  made  by  the  Psychological  Clinic. 
Their  teaching,  therefore,  was  not  teaching  in  the 
ordinary  accepted  sense  of  the  term,  but  it  was  in  reality 
and  essentially  an  individual  treatment  of  a  patho- 
logical case,  and  their  genius  showed  itself  in  their 
ability  to  apply  psychological  principles  in  the  ordinary 
class  room. 

From  this  last  remark  it  will  be  seen  how  closely  the 
Psychological  Clinic  was  joined  to  this  whole  enter- 


ORGANIZATION.  25 

prise.  In  the  first  place  the  selection  of  the  children 
depended  upon  the  past  work  of  the  Clinic,  for  all  of 
them  had  passed  through  the  regular  channels  of  the 
Clinic  during  recent  years.  Consequently,  when  the 
class  was  to  be  organized,  it  was  a  comparatively  simple 
and  easy  matter  to  go  to  the  records  and  select  types 
of  children  who  would  best  illustrate  the  kind  of  work 
needed  in  a  special  class.  At  the  same  time  these  records 
furnished  a  complete  history  of  the  child's  condition, 
at  least  four  reports  being  on  file  in  each  instance. 
When  first  received  at  the  Psychological  Clinic  each 
child  with  its  parents  or  guardians  underwent  an  oral 
examination  concerning  his  own  personal  life  history 
and  his  family  history  back  to  his  grandparents  on 
both  sides.  After  it  was  completed  a  preliminary  but 
comprehensive  physical  examination  followed  which 
included,  first,  careful  anthropometric  measurements; 
and  secondly,  a  medical  examination  by  a  regular 
practitioner,  in  order  to  discover  the  two  classes  of 
physical  defects  bearing  upon  his  mentality,  namely, 
removable  physical  defects  and  congenital  defects  or 
stigmata.  If  the  former  were  present,  the  Social  Service 
Department  immediately  took  the  child  in  hand  and  saw 
to  it  that  he  visited  specialists  who  made  a  thorough 
diagnosis  of  his  condition  and  gave  the  necessary 
surgical  or  medical  relief.  Nor  did  the  social  service 
work  stop  there.  Visits  were  made  to  the  home  of 


26  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

the  child  and  a  full  report  rendered  concerning  his 
environment,  the  social  status  of  his  family,  the  obvious 
training  and  treatment  which  he  received  from  his 
parents,  the  kind  of  food  he  ate,  the  ventilation  of 
the  house,  his  opportunity  for  play,  the  probable 
income  of  the  family,  and  any  other  items  that  might 
bear  upon  his  condition. 

Undoubtedly  the  ideal  special  class  teacher  could 
produce  wonderful  results  with  her  pupils  if  given 
nothing  but  an  empty  room,  and  the  mechanical 
teacher  would  fail  miserably  of  real  results  in  an 
ideally  equipped  school  room,  furnished  with  all  the 
paraphernalia  that  mind  could  conceive  or  fancy 
desire.  This  fact  will  be  noted  in  studying  the  methods 
of  our  summer  class  described  further  on  and  illustrated 
in  the  photographs  of  manual  work  done;  for  the  chief 
piece  of  carpentry  done  by  the  pupils  consisted  of 
building  a  house  out  of  an  ordinary  packing  box. 
Nevertheless  adequate  rooms  and  their  equipment  are 
of  no  mean  importance. 

The  first  requisite  for  conducting  a  special  class  is 
a  location.  In  the  modern  public  school  building  this 
presents  no  difficulty.  Large,  airy,  well-lighted  and 
well-ventilated  rooms  are  to  be  had,  furnished  with  all 
the  usual  equipment  of  the  school  room.  With  us  this 
matter  was  one  of  some  difficulty  and  demanded  some 
preparation.  Three  rooms  in  the  west  wing  of  College 


ORGANIZATION.  27 

Hall,  directly  above  and  communicating  with  the 
Psychological  Laboratory,  were  secured  and  prepared 
for  the  reception  of  the  class.  While  these  rooms  were 
not  ideal  they  were  not  unsuited  for  our  purpose. 
Being  well  above  ground,  they  were  airy,  and  having 
many  large,  high  windows  they  were  well-lighted  and 
well  ventilated  for  summer  work.  The  windows  were 
not  located  so  as  to  give  the  best  illumination,  but  this 
defect  was  largely  overcome  by  the  manner  of  seating 
the  children.  The  location  of  the  rooms  above  and  below 
the  class  rooms,  whose  ceilings  and  floors  were  not  dead- 
ened, rendered  them  somewhat  inconvenient  for  any 
vigorous  exercise,  marching  or  dancing,  and  this  same 
objection  applied  to  the  daily  use  of  the  piano. 

Another  inconvenience  worth  noting  was  the  ab- 
sence of  lavatories  and  toilet  rooms  easily  accessible 
from  the  class  rooms.  For  washing  before  meals,  clean- 
ing their  teeth  and  such  other  necessary  requirements, 
the  boys  were  compelled  to  go  down  stairs  to  a  floor 
below.  Neither  were  any  closets  handy  for  putting 
away  hats,  umbrellas,  or  other  articles  of  dress,  or  for 
storing  kindergarten  tools,  utensils,  dishes,  material 
for  working,  and  the  inevitable  odds  and  ends  that 
accumulate  about  a  school  room  of  this  kind.  It  was 
necessary  to  bring  in  some  book  cases  and  china 
closets,  and  to  store  the  other  things  wherever  they 
were  least  in  the  road. 


28  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

After  the  rooms  had  been  selected  they  were  pre- 
pared for  the  reception  of  the  scholars  by  a  thorough 
scrubbing.  Floors,  windows,  walls  and  all  wood  work 
were  cleaned  and  several  coats  of  varnish  spread  upon 
the  floors.  This  made  it  possible  to  mop  up  the  floors 
every  evening  after  the  day's  session.  Then  the 
furnishings  and  equipment  were  brought  in.  First, 
platforms  of  the  right  height  were  constructed  of 
ordinary  pine  planks  and  placed  in  position  under 
each  black-board  so  that  the  children  could  write  on 
the  board  without  inconvenience.  The  large  items  of 
equipment  were  the  player-piano,  the  sand  board,  the 
work  benches,  tools,  lumber,  raffia,  basketry  materials, 
clay,  dishes  for  giving  the  children  their  lunches, 
and  then  all  the  smaller  articles  of  kindergarten  equip- 
ment like  paper,  pencils,  rulers,  books,  crayons,  etc. 
The  number  and  kinds  of  these  articles  can  be  seen 
from  the  attached  itemized  list. 

SUPPLIES  AND  MATERIALS  FOB  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS. 

SUMMER  SESSION,  1911. 
Equipment. 

10  ordinary   pine-top    kitchen   tables   with    drawers, 

36"  x  23".    $1.95  each. 
20  children's  chairs,  12"  and  14"  leg.     80  cts;   $8.50 

per  doz. 


ORGANIZATION.  29 

3  double    work    benches,     51"  x  22".       $22.00     (5 

drawers). 
1  sand  tray. 

1  couch  or  cot.     $1.50  up. 

2  teacher's  desks.     No.  26,875,  42"  x  30".      $11.50 

each  with  back  panel  and  tall  top.  No.  26,801, 
42"x30".  $8.00  each,  no  back  panel  and 
tall  top. 

Plants  for  room  decoration. 
20  steamer  chairs.     $1.50  and  $2.25  with  rest  for  feet; 

$1.25  and  $2.00  without  foot  rest. 
20  3J  ft.  wands.     10  cts.  each. 
15  pairs  of  1  Ib.  dumb-bells,  45  cts.  per  pair. 
15  pairs  of  f  Ib.  Indian  clubs.     35  cts.  pair. 
1  Pianola  piano. 
|  doz.  bean-bags. 
J  ream  oaktag  paper,  9  X  14. 
1  large  jar  library  paste. 

1  medium  bottle  glue. 

J  doz.  lead  pencils,  medium. 

2  doz.  lead  pencils,  hard. 

Supplies. 

Tools. 

1  brace.     $1.25  to  $2.50. 

\  doz.  bits.     A  (30  cts.),  J  (30  cts.),  f  (35  cts.), 
\  (35  cts.),  f  (45  cts.). 


30  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

2  fret  saws.    25  cts. 

6  doz.  blades.     15  cts.  a  doz. 

2  varnish  brushes  (small). 

3  chisels.     \  in.  45  cts.;  J  in.  45  cts.;   1  in.  75  cts. 
Brads,     f  No.  18,  12  cts.  a  Ib. ;  1  No.  16, 12  cts.  a  Ib. 
Nails,  If  No.  12,  8  cts.  a  Ib. 

Sandpaper,  No.  1.     1  ct.  a  sheet. 

4  planes,  smoothing.     $1.35. 

1  pliers,  square  nose.    45  cts. 

2  steel  rulers.    About  75  cts. 
4  10-in.  back  saws.    $1.35. 

1  cross-cut.    $1.50  to  $2.00. 

1  rip-saw.     $2.25. 

1  screw  drivei,  medium.    30  cts. 

Screws.    Flat,  1  in.  No.  6,  30  cts.  gross;    1J  in. 

No.  10,  35  cts.  gross. 
4  flies,  flat,  10  in.  25  cts.  each. 
1  mallet,  round. 
1  hammer,  claw.    60  cts. 
6  hammers,  tack.    45  cts. 
4  try  squares,  6  in.  30  cts. 
1  oil  stone.    25  cts. 
\  gal.  turpentine. 

1  can  stain,  oil  walnut.     90  cts.  a  qt. 
25  dowels. 
Cane  for  chairs. 

1  Ib.  fine-fine.    75  cts.  bundle. 


ORGANIZATION.  31 

1  Ib.  fine.    75  cts.  bundle. 

1  Ib.  medium.     75  cts.  bundle. 

4  Ibs.  raffia.     Light  brown,  green.     55  cts.  Ib.;  old 

blue,  natural  25  cts. 
1  Ib.  reed  1.     $1.25  Ib. 
1  Ib.  reed  2.    95  cts.  Ib. 
1  Ib.  reed  3.     75  cts.  Ib. 
1  Ib.  reed  5.     55  cts.  Ib. 

1J  doz.  scissors,  sharp  pointed,  5  in.     $2.25  doz. 
Paper: 

12  pkgs.    Prang's    colored    paper,    4x4;     20x25. 

5  cts.  sheet,  50  cts.  a  doz. 
Clay: 

50  Ibs.  clay.     25  cts.  a  brick  (5  Ibs.). 

1  jar  for  clay. 
Chalk: 

1  box  white  chalk.    35  cts.  a  gross. 

1  box  colored  chalk.     10  cts. 
Paints : 

18  boxes  of  water  colors.     25  cts.  small;    65  cts. 
large. 

2  doz.  water  color  brushes.     10  cts.  each;    $1.00 

doz.;  No.  3  brush,  medium. 
2  doz.  box  grease  crayons.     50  cts.  doz. 
Wood: 

50  bass  wood  blanks,  i  in. 
25  ft.  joists,  white  pine,  If  in. 


I  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

2  boards,  £  white  pine,  clear,  dressed. 

2  boards,  f  white  wood,  clear,  dressed. 

2  boards,  \  white  wood,  clear,  dressed. 
15  ft.  |  joists,  white  pine. 

10  ft.  pine  strips,  white,  f  in.  square,  dressed  four 
sides. 


H  H 
AH  x 
O  « 


IE 


Q  | 

55  i 


a 


O 


s  I 

>  a 
I 

g 

to 

^ 
o 


8  I 


VI.     CHINNING    THE   HORIZONTAL    BAR. 

A    SATISFACTORY    AND    INEXPENSIVE    GYMNASIUM. 


fc  3 


9g 

3  I 
gg 


.    Q 
g    3 

It 


ss 


>    g 
D    3 

p  3 


5   o 

«    H 

S    S 


Q    Q 


«  a- 

II 

g  | 

H   »• 

It 
if 


g 

S 


5  2 


li 


§1 
I* 

I 


.    o 

?  B 

« 


il 


>  w 

X| 

SB 


CHAPTER  lit 
THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS. 

BY  ARTHUR  HOLMES. 

The  Special  Class  of  1911  was  composed  of  eighteen 
children.  A  normal  boy,  the  brother  of  a  mental 
defective,  attended  the  class  regularly,  but  was  not 
regarded  as  belonging  to  it.  The  table  on  the  next 
following  pages  briefly  summarizes  the  physical  and 
mental  status  of  the  eighteen  children  composing 
the  class.  There  were  twelve  boys  and  six  girls,  rang- 
ing in  age  from  eight  to  thirteen  years.  The  grading 
of  the  children  as  reported  from  the  public  schools 
was  as  follows:  two  were  in  the  kindergarten,  four 
were  first  grade  pupils,  three  second  grade,  and  six 
third  grade;  while  three  were  ungraded  because  of 
mental  incapacity.  The  two  youngest  were  in  the 
kindergarten,  the  oldest  was  not  graded  because  she 
was  of  a  mental  capacity  too  low  to  reach  even  the 
first  grade.  The  class,  in  brief,  was  not  peculiar  in 
its  make-up,  but  possessed  the  usual  idiosyncrasies  of 
the  special  classes  met  with  in  the  public  schools. 

The  weight  of  the  children  ranged  from  42.7  kg. 
(93.9  Ibs.)  to  21  kg.  (46.2  Ibs.)  with  an  average  of  -27.6 
kg.  (60.7  Ibs.).  The  heaviest  was  the  tallest  girl  in 

(33) 


34  BACKWARD   CHILDREN. 

TABLE  I. — PHYSIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL  STATUS  OF 


No. 


Name. 


Age  at  last 
birthday. 


Height 
in  cm. 


1.  A.,  Giovanni* 9 

2.  B.,  Wilbur 10 

3.  B.,  Henry 10 

4.  B.,  Gertrude 13 

5.  B.,  Richmond 10 

6.  C.,  Susan 9 

7.  C.,  Julia 11 

8.  C.,  Morgan 11 

9.  C.,  Flora 13 

10.  D.,  Agnes 10 

11.  F.,  Russell 9 

12.  H.,  Ernest 9 

13.  H.,  Samuel 9 

14.  L.,  Abraham 8 

15.  S.,  Clara 8 

16.  S.,  Robert 11 

17.  S.,  George 8 

18.  Z.,  Oswald 11 


125.7 
128.8 

129.2 
139.1 

135.5 

124 
135 

137 

156.7 
127.7 

123.8 
135 
125.7 
115 

120.5 
139.7 

132.2 
118.4 


*  Fictitious  names. 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS      35 

EACH  CHILD  IN  SPECIAL  CLASS,  JULY  5,  1911. 


Weight 
in  kg. 

Public  School 
Grade  Reported. 

Mental  Diagnosis. 

25.9 

First 

Mentally  normal.     Pedagogically 
retarded  on  account  of  neglect. 
Morally  delinquent. 

26 

Second 

Mentally  retarded;  morally  delin- 
quent.     Speech  defect.      Edu- 
cable. 

25.4 

First 

Mental  defective. 

36.7 

Third 

Normal   mentality,   pedagogically 
retarded. 

30 

First 

Mental      defective.         Educable. 
Speech  defect. 

21.3 

Second 

Normal,  backward  through  neglect. 

30.8 

Third 

Mental     defective,     high     grade, 
educable. 

29.3 

Second 

Mental   defective,    with   epileptic 
fits. 

42.7 

No  grade 

Mental  defective,  trainable. 

30.8 

First 

Mental    defective,     educable     to 
some  degree. 

22 

No  grade 

Mental  defective;  trainable. 

29.4 

Third 

Normal  mentality. 

27.3 

Third 

Mental  defective,  educable. 

21 

Kindergarten 

Mental  defective,   educable  to   a 
small  degree. 

23.7 

Kindergarten 

Normal  mental  capacity  but  re- 
tarded by  partial  deafness. 

31.8 

Third 

Normal  mentally,   speech  defect. 
Stammerer. 

21 

Third 

Moral  delinquent. 

23 

No  grade 

Normal  mentality,  a  hearing  mute. 

36  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

the  class  and  one  of  the  oldest.  In  general,  the  chrono- 
logical ages  were  fairly  well  correlated  with  the  height 
and  weight  of  the  pupils,  except  in  the  case  of  two 
boys,  M.  C.,  eleven  years  old,  measuring  137  cm.  and 
weighing  only  29.3  kg.,  and  G.  S.,  a  boy  nine  years 
old,  the  lightest  in  the  class,  showing  most  alarming 
signs  of  malnutrition,  measuring  132.2  cm.  and  weigh- 
ing only  21  kg. 

The  psycho-clinical  diagnoses  placed  the  general 
average  of  mental  capacities  fairly  high.  This  quality, 
it  must  be  remembered,  must  be  sharply  distinguished 
from  the  intellectual  attainments  indicated  by  school 
gradings.  The  former  is  a  fixed  quality  determined 
from  present  mental  potentialities  and,  if  the  diagnosis 
were  correct,  would  not  change  in  the  six  weeks,  or  in 
a  lifetime.  The  intellectual  attainments,  on  the  other 
hand,  were  variable,  and  were  expected  to  be  changed 
by  the  class  instruction.  Gauged  by  mental  capacities, 
nine  were  normal,  but  retarded  in  intellectual  acquire- 
ments and  mental  development  by  physical  defects; 
six  were  mental  defectives  of  varying  grade,  but  all 
educable  to  some  degree  in  the  rudiments  of  reading, 
writing  and  arithmetic,  and  highly  trainable ;  two  were 
not  educable,  though  trainable  in  manual  arts;  one 
was  afflicted  with  epileptic  fits,  and  two  added  moral 
delinquency  of  varying  degrees  to  their  mental  aber- 
rations. 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.      37 

Still  one  more  factor  of  great  importance  in  the  care 
of  these  children  remains  to  be  considered.  That  was 
the  home  conditions  under  which  they  lived, — com- 
prising their  food,  drink,  sleeping  accommodations, 
bathing  facilities,  and  last,  but  by  no  means  least, 
the  amount  of  intelligent  supervision  and  co-operation 
to  be  obtained  from  their  parents  or  caretakers.  The 
children  are  divided  into  two  groups :  those  who  lived 
in  their  own  homes  and  those  who  lived  in  the  homes 
of  caretakers.  The  children's  own  homes,  from  which 
they  came  daily  in  the  morning  and  returned  at  night, 
represent  different  degrees  of  poverty  or  comfort  as 
follows. 

In  the  first  class  were  the  good  homes,  that  is,  those 
governed  by  intelligent  parents,  who  maintained  a 
fair  oversight  over  their  children,  furnished  them  with 
enough  to  eat  and  drink  and  a  quiet  place  to  sleep. 
In  such  homes  co-operation  with  all  our  efforts  was 
heartily  given  and,  as  a  rule,  we  had  simply  to  make 
suggestions  about  the  children's  treatment  and  they 
were  carried  out.  To  such  homes  belong  eight  of  the 
children  in  the  class:  W.  B.,  H.  B.,  R.  B.,  J.  C., 
M.  C.,  F.  C.,  E.  H.  and  R.  S. 

In  the  second  class  were  the  homes  not  so  comfortable 
yet  not  abjectly  poor  or  destitute.  Here  the  parents 
were  neglectful  and  conditions  of  ignorance  prevailed 
which  militated  against  the  best  results  of  the  class 


38  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

training.  However,  with  special  attention  and  con- 
stant supervision  we  obtained  some  co-operation  from 
even  these  places  of  abode  for  such  of  the  children  as 
R.  F.  and  A.  L. 

The  third  grade,  or  very  poor  homes,  were  those 
usually  found  in  the  foreign  quarters  of  the  city  where 
the  parents  are  densely  ignorant  and  incapable  of  giving 
adequate  oversight  to  the  children.  They  may  be 
well-meaning  people  just  capable  of  coping  with  their 
normal,  easily  managed  children,  but  utterly  at  a  loss 
to  deal  with  the  unusual  situation  presented  by  a 
child  needing  special  attention.  To  such  homes  belong 
S.  H.  and  G.  A.  In  the  case  of  S.  H.  much  of  the  bad 
influence  of  his  own  home  was  counteracted  by  the  fact 
that  he  spent  a  great  deal  of  his  time  at  a  local  settle- 
ment called  the  Young  Women's  Union.  There  he 
was  in  the  habit  of  going  daily  for  a  bath  in  the  summer, 
and  in  winter  practically  all  of  his  waking  hours  except 
the  time  spent  in  school  were  passed  under  its  good 
influences. 

The  second  group  of  children  in  the  class  were  those 
who  were  removed  from  their  homes  because  they 
could  not  be  trained  while  living  there,  either  owing 
to  the  extreme  poverty  of  the  parents  or  to  other  dis- 
ability in  providing  for  their  children.  In  these  cases 
the  children  were  placed  with  special  caretakers,  who 
furnished  them  with  well-cooked,  nourishing  food, 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.      39 

ample  bathing  and  recreation  facilities  and  constant 
supervision  by  a  responsible  grown  person.  Here 
the  care  and  training,  though  not  the  most  expert,  was 
far  better  than  that  found  in  the  average  home.  Dur- 
ing the  summer  six  children  lived  with  caretakers, — 
G.  B.,  A.  D.,  C.  S.,  M.  C.,  G.  S.  and  O.  Z. 

So  important  was  the  part  played  in  the  experi- 
ment by  these  caretaking  homes  that  it  is  of  interest 
to  describe  a  typical  one  in  which  the  four  last  named 
children  lived.  This  particular  household  was  pre- 
sided over  by  a  middle  aged  woman  who  has  had  a  great 
deal  of  practical  experience  in  the  care  of  children.  She 
took  immediate  charge  of  the  children,  prepared  their 
breakfast  and  supper  daily,  brought  them  to  school  and 
took  them  home  and  gave  them  all  other  necessary 
physical  care.  The  household  management,  the  kind 
of  food  the  children  ate,  their  bathing  and  sleeping 
accommodations,  general  habits  and  medical  care 
were  under  the  direct  supervision  of  the  social  service 
department  of  the  Clinic. 

The  house  was  a  two-story,  nine-roomed  dwelling 
in  a  quiet  block  of  residences,  open  on  three  sides, 
with  a  clear  sweep  of  air  day  and  night,  summer  and 
winter.  On  the  floors  were  no  carpets  or  rugs  and  all 
dust-catching  draperies  and  ornaments  were  eliminated. 
Running  water  and  a  well-equipped  bath  room,  where 
the  children  were  bathed  at  least  every  other  night 


40  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

and  sometimes  oftener,  added  to  their  cleanliness  and 
comfort  during  the  hot  weather. 

On  the  first  floor  there  was  a  square  hall  with  a  stair- 
case, front  room  and  dining  room  leading  out  of  it. 
The  kitchen  opened  from  the  dining  room  and  into  the 
pantry  by  door  and  window,  and  the  pantry  opened 
into  the  back  yard.  The  yard,  though  small,  had  grass 
and  bushes  of  its  own  and  gave  a  good  outlook  over 
grassy  spots  in  the  rear  of  the  house.  Here  the  children 
spent  most  of  their  time  when  they  were  at  home  and 
not  employed  in  the  house.  Upstairs  were  four  bedrooms 
and  a  bath  room.  Two  of  the  bedrooms  had  three  win- 
dows, one  two,  and  the  fourth  one  window.  All  had 
two  doors  always  left  open,  to  give  a  constant  current 
of  air  throughout  the  house. 

The  routine  of  the  children's  lives  was  regulated  as 
carefully  as  possible.  At  six  o'clock  they  rose,  made 
their  beds,  set  their  rooms  in  order  and  dressed  them- 
selves under  the  direction  of  the  matron.  At  seven 
they  had  breakfast,  consisting  of  bread  and  milk  and 
some  cereal.  Then  they  set  out  for  the  special  class, 
arriving  there  at  a  quarter  before  nine.  After  seven 
hours  of  instruction,  lunch  and  recreation,  they  were 
taken  home  again. 

After  school  they  had  various  household  duties  to 
perform.  The  girls  were  taught  housework  of  some  sort 
like  sweeping,  dusting,  scrubbing,  setting  the  table 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.      41 

and  washing  dishes,  and  cooking  whenever  their  age 
would  permit.  When  unoccupied  they  played  out  of 
doors,  usually  in  the  back  yard,  or  the  older  girls  were 
sometimes  sent  on  errands.  All  the  children  were  put 
to  bed  at  eight  o'clock. 

A  second-grade  caretaking  home  corresponded  as 
nearly  to  the  one  described  as  the  decreased  rate  of 
board  permitted.  The  children  paid  three  dollars  instead 
of  five,  which  made  a  very  real  difference  in  the  kind  of 
provision  made.  Here  the  children  received  enough 
to  eat,  had  a  quiet  place  to  sleep  and  were  given  con- 
stant oversight.  The  woman  in  charge  was  kind  and 
patient,  and  the  children  never  suffered  from  neglect 
or  brutal  treatment.  Specific  directions  from  the  Clinic 
as  to  their  care  were  carefully  carried  out,  and  without 
doubt  such  a  home,  though  not,  of  course,  ideal,  was 
nevertheless  the  best  procurable  for  the  money  avail- 
able for  some  of  the  children,  and  infinitely  better  than 
their  own  wretched  abodes, — to  be  called  "  homes " 
only  by  the  barest  courtesy. 

Such  was  the  psychological  and  sociological  condition 
of  the  class  as  a  whole.  It  was  a  typical  special  class, — 
typical  in  its  variety  of  intellectual,  moral  and  social 
gradations  and  therefore  eminently  worthy  of  the 
closest  study  by  teachers  and  welfare  workers.  The 
mental,  physical,  moral  and  social  status  of  each  child, 
on  entering  the  special  class,  will  appear  from  an 


42  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

examination  of  the  following  "clinic  reports," — pre- 
pared from  the  clinic  records  for  the  information  and 
guidance  of  the  teachers  of  the  Special  Class. 

THE  CLINIC  REPORTS. 

1.  Giovanni  Arnetti,*  a  boy  nine  years  old,  was  first 
brought  to  the  Clinic  on  March  16,  1911,  by  a  Clinic 
social  worker.  He  was  sent  together  with  his  two 
brothers  by  the  principal  of  his  school  because  of 
backwardness  and  bad  conduct. 

The  personal  history  of  this  boy  began  well.  He 
had  never  been  seriously  ill  and  suffered  no  falls  or 
injuries.  He  started  to  school  when  he  was  six  years 
old  and  at  the  time  of  his  visit  to  the  Clinic  had  been 
placed  in  a  special  class  for  incorrigibles.  His  teacher 
thought  that  he  was  just  bright  enough  to  be  bad, 
and  stated  it  as  her  opinion  that  nothing  would  do 
him  any  good.  According  to  her  judgment,  then, 
he  was  a  moral  degenerate,  or  a  case  of  incurable 
badness. 

In  the  family  history  there  was  nothing  to  sub- 
stantiate this  conjecture.  The  father  is  well  and  works 
daily  at  stone  cutting  for  his  living.  He  has  had  one 
slight  illness,  but  nothing  serious.  According  to  the 
wife's  report  he  drinks  some  wine  and  beer,  but  not  to 


*The  names  are  fictitious,  and  a  few  other  changes  have  been  made  to 
prevent  identification. 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.      43 

excess.  The  mother  of  the  boy  is  not  strong.  She 
was  twenty  years  of  age  when  this  child  was  born. 

The  paternal  grandmother  is  still  living  and  well, 
although  she  has  more  than  outlived  her  allotted  time 
of  three  score  years  and  ten.  The  father's  father's 
brother, — the  boy's  paternal  great-uncle, — went  insane 
and  was  placed  in  a  sanitarium,  on  account  of  a  fright 
from  a  temporary  imprisonment  by  some  men  who 
wished  to  rob  him.  The  mother's  father  is  still  living 
and  well,  and  her  mother  died  of  tuberculosis  at  a 
mature  age  leaving  a  family  of  three  children.  No 
mental  abnormalities  appear  on  the  mother's  side  of 
the  family.  The  immediate  family  of  this  boy  con- 
sists of  father  and  mother  and  five  children  out  of 
six,  the  youngest  having  died  when  five  months  old, 
from  bronchitis. 

The  appearance  of  this  boy  is  not  prepossessing, 
but  this  first  impression  is  modified  after  a  closer 
acquaintance.  He  is  normal  in  weight  and  height 
for  his  age,  though  he  appears  small.  His  height  is 
125.7  centimeters  and  weight  is  25.9  kilograms.  A 
marked  internal  strabismus  of  the  left  eye  strikes 
one  immediately,  though  he  wears  glasses.  This  eye 
defect  is  congenital,  inherited  from  the  mother  and 
shared  by  all  the  other  children. 

His  hair  though  singularly  soft  to  touch  stands 
up  on  end.  His  posture  is  fairly  good,  because  his 


44  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

muscles  are  firm  and  his  movements  show  good  co- 
ordination. His  skull  is  inclined  to  be  narrow  in  the 
frontal  region  with  prominent  bosses  on  the  frontal 
bone.  The  girth  of  the  head  is  20.3  inches ;  the  biparietal 
length  5.6  inches;  occipito-frontal  7.1  inches;  occipito- 
mental  8.5  inches.  At  the  time  of  the  examination 
there  were  dark  rings  under  the  boy's  eyes  and  he 
looked  tired  and  worn,  as  if  lacking  sufficient  sleep. 
His  nose  was  broad  at  the  bridge.  This  broadening, 
in  conjunction  with  the  short  upper  lip,  mouth  breath- 
ing, and  round  shoulders,  suggested  the  presence  of 
an  adenoid  growth.  His  heart  was  normal  in  size 
with  a  slight  accentuation  on  the  second  beat  which 
was  rather  marked  at  the  aortic  areas.  The  glands 
in  the  neck  at  the  angle  of  each  jaw  were  somewhat 
swollen.  The  lungs  were  normal.  He  was  advised 
to  go  to  the  nose  and  throat,  eye,  ear  and  dental 
clinics. 

On  May  17th  he  was  taken  to  the  Pennsylvania 
Hospital  where  enlarged  tonsils  and  adenoids  were 
diagnosed.  On  May  25th  the  growths  were  removed. 
On  June  20th  his  eyes  were  examined  and  refracted 
and  a  prescription  for  glasses  given. 

It  was  found  by  the  mental  tests  given  at  the  Psycho- 
logical Clinic  that  he  could  read  fairly  well  in  the  first 
reader,  but  could  not  spell  words  beyond  such  mono- 
syllables as  "dog,"  "cat,"  and  "rat".  He  failed  on 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     45 

" horse"  and  "boat".  His  arithmetic  was  equally 
rudimentary.  He  could  add  2  plus  3  equal  5;  3  plus  3 
equal  6,  but  failed  on  20  plus  9;  9  plus  17;  6  times  6; 
7  times  5.  Pedagogically  he  belonged  in  the  first 
grade  and  was,  therefore,  retarded  about  three  years. 

On  the  first  trial  with  the  form  board  he  placed  the 
blocks  correctly  in  thirty-five  seconds,  and  required 
twenty  seconds  for  the  second  trial,  and  twenty  seconds 
for  the  third  trial.  He  knew  the  names  of  the  colors 
with  the  exception  of  blue  and  purple,  which  he  con- 
fused with  each  other.  His  visual  memory  span  was 
good  for  two,  but  failed  on  three.  By  the  Binet  tests 
he  showed  the  mental  capacity  of  a  child  eight  years 
old.  The  pedagogical  standing  was  that  of  a  six-year- 
old  as  indicated  by  the  pedagogical  tests,  and  the 
Binet  tests  indicated  eight.  His  teacher's  opinion, 
that  he  was  bright  and  could  learn,  but  was  so  bad 
that  he  would  not  learn,  was  borne  out  by  the  Binet 
test. 

With  this  record  he  entered  the  special  class  of  the 
Summer  School  July  5th. 

The  mother's  health  and  character,  and  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  home,  go  farther  than  the  personal  or 
family  history,  to  account  for  Giovanni's  back- 
wardness and  alleged  incorrigibility.  The  mother, 
worn  out  with  child  bearing,  is  sick  a  great  deal  of 
the  time,  and  has  lost  all  spirit.  She  is  peevish  and 


46  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

irritable,  the  children  are  afraid  of  her,  especially  the 
boys,  as  she  strikes  them  whenever  they  come  near 
her.  The  father's  mother,  a  very  old  woman,  is  exceed- 
ingly jealous  of  the  mother,  scolding  her  continually. 
The  father,  seldom  at  home,  exerts  his  authority  over 
all,  and  is  very  severe  with  the  children. 

The  boy's  reaction  to  this  is  natural  enough.  He 
plays  on  the  streets  and  goes  into  the  house  as  little 
as  possible.  At  school  he  was  reported  as  being  in 
mischief  continually,  when  he  wasn't  playing  truant. 
His  truancy  and  his  lack  of  interest  in  school  may 
be  accounted  for  in  part  by  the  condition  of  his  eyes. 
He  has  an  internal  strabismus,  and  the  oculist  who 
examined  him  reports  no  binocular  co-ordination  and 
that  he  is  nearly  blind  in  one  eye.  Naturally  school 
work  of  a  formal  kind  would  have  no  attraction  for 
him. 

The  mother's  brother  was  the  one  good  home  influ- 
ence the  boy  had.  He  was  a  tailor  and  lived  near  by, 
and  did  as  much  for  the  boys  as  he  could  in  his  simple 
way.  He  beat  them  occasionally,  but  also  fed  them, 
and  was  so  generally  kind  that  they  preferred  his 
house  to  their  own.  Before  G.  came  to  the  special 
class,  his  uncle  took  him  to  live  with  him,  and  agreed 
to  pay  his  carfare  to  the  summer  school. 

2.  Wilbur  Benson,  a  boy  ten  years  old,  was  first 
brought  to  the  Psychological  Clinic  on  account  of 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.      47 

moral  delinquency  and  speech  defect,  on  April  10, 1911, 
by  his  stepmother,  who  had  been  advised  to  do  so  by 
her  minister. 

The  recent  life  of  this  boy  had  been  fairly  free 
from  any  untoward  events.  His  birth  was  difficult 
and  the  delivery  made  with  instruments.  It  was 
reported  that  he  had  a  large  head  at  birth  and  that 
his  skull  was  somewhat  deformed  from  the  prolonged 
parturition  and  the  use  of  forceps.  He  suffered  from 
no  particular  diseases  or  falls,  though  he  has  always 
been  a  somewhat  restless  sleeper.  When  he  was  seven 
years  of  age  an  adenoid  vegetation  was  removed  at 
the  Samaritan  Hospital. 

No  items  of  any  importance  were  elicited  from  the 
family  history.  His  father  is  living  and  well.  His 
mother  died  in  child-birth.  There  were  seven  children 
born  in  the  family  and  he  was  the  sixth  child.  The 
oldest  girl  and  the  third  child  have  speech  defects, 
but  otherwise  there  is  nothing  wrong  with  the  other 
children.  The  youngest  child  was  still-born.  No 
abnormalities  were  reported  in  the  grandparents  on 
either  side  of  the  house. 

The  boy's  general  appearance  is  not  at  all  unpre- 
possessing. He  is  short  and  stocky  and  his  head 
strikes  one  as  rather  large.  His  height  is  128.8  cm. 
and  his  weight  is  26  kilograms.  His  general  nutrition 
seems  to  be  good  and  he  has  a  steady  and  erect  carriage. 


48  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

His  musculature  is  generally  well  developed,  though 
his  chest  is  flat.  His  hair  is  dark  brown,  normal  in 
thickness  and  texture.  His  skull,  as  has  already  been 
noted,  is  rather  large,  having  a  girth  of  21.6  inches, 
the  biparietal  diameter  measuring  6.1  inches,  the 
occipito-frontal  7.3  inches,  and  the  occipito-mental 
8.6  inches.  His  teeth  are  in  good  condition.  He 
complains  somewhat  of  headaches  and  that  his  eyes  hurt. 
Examination  of  the  naso-pharynx  showed  the  nose  and 
throat  to  be  in  good  condition.  A  Wassermann  test 
for  syphilis  was  made,  with  negative  results. 

This  boy  started  to  school  when  he  was  six  years 
old,  where  he  has  been  going  for  four  years  without 
succeeding  in  advancing  further  than  the  second  grade. 
On  the  Monday  previous  to  his  visit  to  the  Clinic 
he  had  been  suspended  for  bad  conduct.  One  of  the 
causes  of  his  retardation  lies  in  his  speech  defect. 
He  is  unable  to  give  the  hard  sound  of  "c,"  or  "k," 
or  "g,"  and  slurs  over  the  "j"  in  the  word  "jump," 
but  seems  to  pronounce  it  correctly  in  other  words. 
He  has  difficulty  with  "r,"  (says  "s,")  and  with  "th" 
in  the  middle  of  final  sounds.  All  of  his  phonetic 
sounds  he  makes  too  quickly,  though  when  he  is  shown 
he  is  able  to  pronounce  some  correctly. 

He  has  several  bad  habits.  One  of  them  is  running 
away.  On  May  19  his  mother  reported  that  he  had 
just  run  away  for  three  days  and  did  not  seem  to  realize 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     49 

the  seriousness  of  his  act.  In  addition  he  has  the  habit 
of  taking  little  things  about  the  house  and  occasionally 
abstracting  money  from  his  mother's  pocketbook. 

In  the  examination  for  mental  capacity,  he  was  able 
to  do  the  arithmetic,  spelling,  reading  and  dictation 
of  the  second  grade,  but  the  quality  of  his  work  was 
very  poor.  The  Binet  tests  indicated  the  mental 
capacity  of  a  boy  of  eight.  In  sense  acuity  tests  he 
was  able  to  distinguish  and  name  colors  and  his  memory 
span  was  good  for  six  colors.  He  can  wash  and  dress 
himself  and  make  his  toilet  completely  except  tying 
his  necktie.  He  runs  and  plays  games  with  the  other 
children,  likes  to  throw  a  ball,  and  handles  a  hammer, 
saw  and  nails.  He  learns  songs  very  easily. 

W's  family  live  in  a  large  house,  which  they  occupy 
with  the  family  of  Mrs.  W's  sister.  The  father  is  very 
impatient  with  children,  and  Mrs  B.,  although  only 
their  stepmother,  is  completely  responsible  for  them. 
She  is  well  educated,  was  a  public  school  teacher, 
and  for  many  years  was  active  in  Sunday  School  work. 

W.  has  regular  duties  about  the  house.  He  carries 
things  up  from  the  cellar,  and  keeps  the  yard  clean. 
He  takes  care  of  his  own  fox  terrier,  and  often  helps 
with  the  dishes,  doing  this  willingly  and  as  well  as  he 
can.  His  wandering  habit  has  not  been  in  evidence 
since  May,  except  one  Sunday,  when  he  stayed  out  until 
six  o'clock  after  being  told  to  come  back  at  three. 


50  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

3.  Henry  Birch,  a  boy  now  ten  years  old,  was 
brought  to  the  Clinic  July  20,  1909,  by  his  mother  on 
account  of  a  speech  defect.  This  speech  difficulty 
dates  back  to  the  beginning  of  his  talking  at  eighteen 
months  of  age.  He  is  reported  to  have  had  a  hoarse, 
wheezing  voice.  His  pronunciation  has  continued 
to  be  very  bad.  He  says  "pidzin"  for  pigeon,  "clee" 
for  three,  and  "wat"  for  rat.  His  final  "t"  is  never 
clearly  sounded.  No  speech  defect  appears  amongst 
the  other  children  of  the  family. 

The  cause  of  this  difficulty  did  not  seem  to  lie  in 
any  of  the  boy's  life  events.  When  a  year  old  he  had 
convulsions,  caused,  according  to  the  attending  physi- 
cian's statement,  by  eating  too  much  cake  with  cur- 
rants. The  convulsions  lasted  over  Sunday  night 
until  Monday  morning  and  left  the  child  unconscious 
until  Wednesday.  As  far  as  the  mother  knew  they 
apparently  had  no  permanent  bad  effects.  The  boy 
had  had  the  usual  measles,  mumps  and  whooping 
cough,  but  none  of  them  very  bad. 

The  birth  conditions  were  hard.  The  child  was 
born  at  full  time,  but  the  labor  was  difficult  and  the 
delivery  delayed.  He  did  not  cry  immediately  after 
birth  and  was  probably  partially  asphyxiated. 

There  are  three  other  children  in  the  family  besides 
H.,  two  older  and  one  younger.  All  of  them  are  nor- 
mal mentally,  though  the  older  sister  at  one  time  had 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     51 

St.  Vitas'  dance.  The  two  older  ones  succeed  very 
well  in  their  school  work  and  give  no  trouble  in  their 
conduct. 

The  boy's  father  and  mother  are  both  living,  but  the 
health  of  neither  is  good.  The  mother  suffers  from  a 
weak  heart.  No  mental  abnormality  appears  in  the 
family  history  on  either  side  and  no  speech  defects 
are  known  in  the  boy's  parentage. 

In  appearance  he  is  a  boy  of  the  usual  Irish  type, 
with  light,  freckled  skin,  somewhat  coarse,  and  light 
hair  inclined  to  be  sandy.  His  height  is  129.2  centi- 
meters and  his  weight  is  25.4  kilograms.  His  head 
is  rather  large  with  a  girth  of  20.5  inches;  transverse 
diameter,  5.25  inches;  occipito-f rental,  7  inches,  and 
occipito-mental,  8  inches.  His  forehead  is  broad,  but 
not  very  high.  His  complexion  and  circulation  are 
good.  His  ears  are  small,  but  well  developed,  and  his 
nose  is  decidedly  short  and  inclined  to  turn  up.  At  the 
time  of  the  examination  he  was  suffering  from  a  sty 
on  the  left  eye.  His  tonsils  had  been  removed  three 
years  before.  At  that  time  the  operating  surgeon  said 
that  he  was  tongue-tied  and  that  the  surgical  relief 
necessary  would  be  attended  to  while  he  was  under  the 
anaesthetic.  The  mother  stated,  however,  that  she 
could  see  no  difference  in  the  boy's  speech  after  the 
operation.  He  still  breathes  with  his  mouth  open 
both  awake  and  asleep  and  snores  a  little.  His  teeth 


52  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

were  carious  and  needed  dental  attention,  with  some 
irregularity  limited  chiefly  to  the  left  lateral  incisor 
on  the  lower  jaw.  The  cardiac  pulsations  were  forcible, 
but  without  murmurs.  His  mother  gave  a  history 
of  sick  spells  or  bilious  attacks  from  which  he  suffered 
when  he  first  attended  school.  The  attending  physi- 
cian at  that  time  recommended  a  lighter  diet.  At 
intervals  also  he  had  such  a  sore  throat  that  he  could 
not  talk  at  all. 

About  January  25,  1910,  he  was  circumcised.  About 
the  same  time  a  nose  and  throat  examination  was  made 
and  it  was  found  that  the  adenoids  and  tonsils  had 
not  grown  again,  though  he  was  somewhat  affected 
with  pharyngitis. 

The  pedagogical  history  is  a  varied  one.  He  began 
his  educational  career  at  six  years  of  age  in  a  parochial 
school.  He  did  not  make  much  progress  and  the  teacher 
in  charge  considered  him  a  "dumb"  child.  He  con- 
tinued in  that  school  with  an  unvarying  record  for 
disobedience  and  inability  to  learn  until  he  was  about 
eight  years  of  age  when  he  was  removed  to  a  regular 
public  school.  Here  too  there  was  no  improvement 
in  his  ability  to  learn  nor  in  his  conduct.  The  principal 
of  the  school  declared  that  H.  was  "  absolutely  impos- 
sible as  a  pupil;  that  no  one  could  teach  him  anything 
and  that  he  was  the  kind  of  a  scholar  who  makes  the 
teacher  particularly  discouraged."  To  aid  him  as 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     53 

much  as  possible,  the  father  spent  two  hours  each  day 
trying  to  help  him  with  his  lessons.  Those  who  observed 
his  work  under  his  father's  tuition  noted  an  apparent 
increase  in  the  boy's  mental  ability.  He  was  able  to 
spell  and  pronounce  words  for  his  father  which  he  could 
not  spell  or  pronounce  in  school.  The  parents  attrib- 
uted the  difference  to  the  boy's  shyness.  On  account 
of  his  school  disability,  he  was  finally  removed  from  the 
public  school,  with  the  eager  consent  of  the  teachers, 
and  sent  to  live  with  his  aunt  in  another  part  of  the 
city  in  order  that  he  might  attend  a  special  class. 
After  about  a  month's  attendance  in  the  special  class 
the  teacher  reported  that  he  was  getting  along  "all 
right,"  though  his  aunt  noticed  that  he  seemed  to  be 
suffering  from  homesickness. 

At  the  time  of  his  examination  at  the  Clinic  he  could 
read  a  little  in  the  first  reader,  could  count  to  12,  and 
could  add  such  simple  sums  as  2+1  =  3;  but  failed  on 
3+2,  which  he  said  equaled  4,  and  2+2  =  3.  Hespelled 
"cat,"  "rat,"  "mat,"  and  "hat,"  but  could  not  spell 
"dog". 

His  mother  reports  that  at  home  he  is  very  active, 
always  running  about,  playing  and  shouting.  He 
mixes  with  children  of  his  own  age,  but  likes  to  quarrel 
with  his  sisters  more  than  anything  else.  He  refuses 
to  study  his  lessons  at  home.  He  is  very  fond  of 
singing,  but  does  not  sing  well  because  of  his  small, 


54  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

wheezy  voice.  He  is  not  obedient  either  at  home  or  in 
school,  though  his  temper  is  not  bad. 

At  the  second  visit  to  the  Clinic,  October  25,  1909, 
he  was  able  to  count  to  17  and  later  in  the  afternoon 
to  20.  He  was  tried  on  the  alphabet  and  got  no  farther 
than  "g,"  although  he  had  been  drilled  on  this  exercise 
by  his  mother.  His  spelling  showed  the  same  errors 
as  the  first  test.  His  writing  exercises  for  May,  1911, 
showed  fair  improvement  for  a  boy  of  his  age  and 
backwardness.  In  multiplication  every  one  of  his 
problems  with  two  figures  in  the  multiplier  were 
wrong. 

On  July  17,  1911,  a  Clinic  social  worker  called  on 
Mrs.  B.  at  her  home,  which  is  an  attractive  little  two- 
story  house  with  a  good  sized  front  yard  and  porch 
on  a  street  wide  and  fairly  clean.  Mrs.  B.  appears  to 
be  in  bad  health  and  says  her  heart  is  weak,  and  is 
further  exhausted  from  nursing  her  husband  of  fifty, 
only  just  recovered  from  an  illness.  Both  are  fairly 
educated,  able  to  read  and  write  and  intend  to  keep 
their  children  in  school  as  long  as  possible.  Mrs.  B. 
spoke  of  having  been  advised  to  send  H.  to  the  Pa. 
Training  School  for  Feeble  Minded  Children  when  she 
was  at  the  Clinic  two  years  ago,  but  felt  they  could  not 
afford  it.  She  thinks  his  speech  has  improved  since 
then,  but  does  not  think  him  better  mentally.  She 
appears  to  be  a  good  mother  and  any  weakness  she 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     55 

shows  in  the  management  of  her  children  is  due  to  her 
ill  health. 

H.  was  classified  as  a  mental  defective,  educable  to 
a  small  degree,  but  trainable,  and  entered  the  special 
class  July  10th,  after  it  had  been  in  operation  a  week. 

4.  Gertrude  Bortel  has  appeared  before  in  published 
accounts  concerning  the  work  of  the  Psychological 
Clinic.  In  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  CLINIC,  Vol.  IV,  No.  7, 
December  15,  1910,  pages  193  to  210,  under  the  cap- 
tion of  "The  Irrepressible  Ego,"  Dr.  Witmer  has  given 
a  condensed  account  of  the  treatment  of  this  case  extend- 
ing from  October  24,  1908,  when  she  first  appeared  at 
the  Clinic,  to  October  26,  1910,  a  period  of  two  years. 

She  was  first  brought  to  the  Clinic  about  three  years 
ago  by  the  social  worker  of  a  charitable  society.  The 
chief  difficulty  so  far  experienced  with  the  child  had 
been  her  uncontrollable  conduct.  At  that  time  very 
little  of  her  family  history  could  be  found.  It  was 
reported  that  she  came  from  an  almshouse  in  the  state: 
had  been  charged  with  striking,  fighting  and  biting 
grown  people;  had  received  very  little  schooling; 
was  afflicted  with  a  specific  disease  which  rendered 
her  eyesight  extremely  bad;  and  had  finally  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  the  Children's  Aid  Society  of  Philadelphia, 
who  sent  her  to  the  Wills  Eye  Hospital.  Beyond  this 
practically  nothing  was  known  of  her  babyhood  or 
childhood.  Later  reports,  however,  revealed  that  her 


56  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

mother  was  feebleminded,  a  woman  who  earned  her 
living  by  manual  work  and  spent  much  of  her  time  in 
the  almshouses  and  like  institutions.  Nothing  is 
known  of  the  mother's  history,  but,  according  to  report, 
she  had  a  sister  who  was  also  feebleminded.  The 
father,  as  far  as  could  be  learned,  was  a  man  of  ordinary 
ability,  who  deserted  the  mother  or  at  least  has  never 
contributed  anything  toward  the  support  of  the  mother 
or  the  child. 

Passing  from  this  rather  meager  family  history  over 
the  period  of  training  covered  by  Dr.  Witmer's  article 
noted  above,  we  come  to  the  general  physical  appear- 
ance of  this  girl,  with  measurements  taken  on  July  5, 
1911,  when  she  entered  the  special  class.  She  has 
grown  to  be  rather  a  large-boned,  muscular-looking 
girl,  139.1  cm.  in  height  and  36.7  kilograms  in  weight, 
with  an  upper  chest  expansion  of  2.75  inches  and  a 
lower  chest  expansion  of  1.75  inches.  Her  head  has  a 
girth  of  20.5  inches  with  a  biparietal  diameter  of  5.5; 
occipito-frontal  7  inches;  occipito-mental  7.75  inches. 
Her  general  nourishment  and  circulation  were  good,  as 
indicated  by  the  haemoglobin  test  of  70. 

Her  features,  rather  coarse  and  suggestive  of  the 
parentage  from  which  she  has  sprung,  are  not  unpleas- 
ing.  Her  forehead  is  low,  her  eyes  dark  brown  with 
a  decided  upward  and  outward  slant.  The  frontal 
bosses  are  prominent  over  the  frontal  sinuses;  her 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     57 

nose  is  small,  broad  at  the  bridge  with  a  slight  septal 
deviation  to  the  left.  Her  upper  lip  is  short,  her  lips 
full;  teeth  are  good;  left  ear  is  a  little  larger  than 
the  right,  Darwinian  tubercle  present  on  both  ears. 
The  sternum  is  very  short  indicating  a  rachitic  history; 
the  lungs  are  sound;  her  heart  beats  rapidly  and 
without  any  murmur.  On  July  28,  1911,  she  was  taken 
to  an  oculist  who  had  been  treating  her  for  some  time 
for  interstitial  keratitis,  arising  from  the  specific 
disease  for  which  she  has  also  received  a  long  treatment. 
On  August  1st  she  was  also  taken  to  an  ear  specialist 
for  some  trouble  with  her  right  ear. 

The  mentality  of  this  child  from  a  technical  point 
of  view  has  never  been  in  doubt.  Her  conduct  and 
her  disposition,  however,  have  been  variable  and  she 
has  been  reported  by  various  teachers  as  unreliable, 
irritable,  irrespressible,  without  self-control,  shy,  desir- 
ing to  please,  longing  to  look  well  yet  looking  untidy, 
fully  of  energy  yet  lazy,  loving  yet  unlovely,  over-gen- 
erous yet  often  selfish,  desiring  to  be  helpful  yet  often 
unsuccessful  when  she  tries  most,  emotional  yet  having 
no  depth  of  feeling,  appealed  to  best  by  her  love  of 
the  beautiful. 

As  reported  by  Dr.  Witmer  she  was  entered  in  the 
public  school  in  the  second  grade  A  on  October  26, 
1910,  and  last  June  was  promoted  to  the  third  grade. 
On  July  5th  she  was  admitted  to  the  special  class  and 


58  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

continued  throughout  the  summer,  boarding  at  the 
private  boarding  house  where  she  has  remained  for 
some  time. 

5.  Richmond  Bronson,  a  ten-year-old  boy,  first 
brought  to  the  Clinic  March  24,  1910,  by  his  mother, 
who  had  been  troubled  by  the  boy's  backwardness  in 
school  and  by  his  speech  defect.  She  came  on  the 
advice  of  the  principal  at  the  public  school  where  the 
boy  attended. 

He  had  started  school  when  he  was  six  years  of  age 
and  was  still  in  the  first  grade  at  the  time  of  his  visit. 
The  general  statement  was  made  that  he  did  not 
seem  to  be  able  to  learn.  The  cause  for  this  dis- 
ability does  not  seem  to  lie  in  any  of  the  events  of 
his  life. 

The  birth  was  instrumental  and  difficult,  the  right 
eye  being  slightly  injured  by  the  forceps.  He  was  nursed 
by  his  mother  and  had  no  digestive  trouble.  He  was 
slow  in  walking,  which  he  began  at  twenty-two  months 
of  age,  and  exceedingly  retarded  in  his  speech,  which 
he  did  not  begin  until  he  was  six  years  of  age.  He 
was  always  a  healthy  baby  physically  and  suffered  no 
diseases  except  whooping  cough  and  a  mild  attack  of 
tonsillitis.  He  is  the  youngest  of  two  children,  the 
other  one  being  quite  normal. 

In  the  family  history  there  is  nothing  to  account  for 
his  condition.  The  mother  and  father  are  both  healthy 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     59 

and  of  normal  mentality.  The  grandparents  on  both 
sides  are  normal.  There  is  no  tuberculosis,  epilepsy  or 
insanity  reported  in  the  family. 

The  beholder  is  struck  immediately  with  the  apparent 
heaviness  and  dulness  of  R.'s  face.  His  body  is  really 
not  so  large  or  heavy  as  at  first  sight  appears.  His 
height  is  135.5  cm.  and  his  weight  is  30  kilograms.  His 
skull  is  somewhat  smaller  than  normal,  being  20.7 
inches  in  girth,  biparietal  diameter  5  inches;  occipito- 
frontal  7.5  inches,  and  occipito-mental  7.75  inches. 
There  is  a  slight  internal  strabismus  and  a  weakness 
of  the  external  rectus  of  the  right  eye.  Pupils  react 
to  light,  though  rather  sluggishly.  He  has  been  fitted 
with  glasses  to  correct  his  vision.  His  ears  are  close 
to  his  head  at  the  lobes  and  his  hearing  is  diminished 
about  one-half.  His  nose  is  broad  and  the  nostrils 
thick.  His  teeth  are  irregular  and  decayed,  with 
the  upper  canines  missing.  The  palate  is  rela- 
tively high  and  quite  wide.  The  abdomen  protrudes 
(infantile),  though  his  general  nutrition  seems  to  be 
good. 

He  was  recommended  for  an  eye  examination  and  on 
March  24,  1910,  his  eyes  were  refracted.  At  the  same 
time  a  throat  and  nose  examination  revealed  only  a 
small  adenoid  which  did  not  obstruct  nasal  breathing 
and  hence  was  not  considered  serious  enough  for  an 
operation.  He  entered  the  weekly  class  for  speech 


60  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

training  at  the  Psychological  Clinic  on  October  21, 
1910,  and  remained  until  June,  1911. 

At  the  mental  examination  on  March  24,  1910,  he 
was  able  to  do  only  the  simplest  intellectual  tasks  of 
the  first  school  grade.  He  could  read  out  of  the  first 
reader,  form  the  letters  of  ordinary  words  and  spell  a 
little.  He  did  not  know  the  names  of  colors,  but  could 
distinguish  primary  colors.  At  the  form  board  he 
placed  the  blocks  in  the  proper  places,  but  took  one  and 
a  quarter  minutes  to  do  it.  In  the  second  trial,  how- 
ever, he  cut  this  down  to  three-quarters  of  a  minute. 
In  working  the  form  board  he  first  looked  at  the  block 
and  then  found  the  proper  place  for  it.  In  disposition 
he  is  said  to  be  very  affectionate;  runs,  jumps  and 
plays  with  the  other  children  and  takes  part  in  all  kinds 
of  games.  He  is  able  to  dress  himself  and  take  care  of 
his  daily  wants,  to  eat  at  table  with  knife  and  fork,  and 
in  every  way  to  conduct  himself  as  a  quiet  normal  boy. 
He  is  slow  and  sluggish,  with  the  mentality  and  dis- 
position of  a  high-grade,  educable  mental  defective  of 
the  apathetic  type.  On  July  5th  he  entered  the  special 
class. 

R.  is  living  at  home,  and  his  home  belongs  distinctly 
to  the  first  class,  called  "good".  It  is  near  Fairmount 
Park,  which  furnishes  ample  playground  facilities  and 
it  is  here  that  R.  plays  ball.  He  is  also  fond  of  working 
with  tools,  and  constructs  wagons,  automobiles  and 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     61 

other  toys.  The  mother  is  intelligent  and  wholesome, 
and  is  ambitious  for  R.  to  become  a  dentist,  but  fears 
that  he  cannot  be  prepared  for  this  profession. 

6.  Susan  Catherwood  is  an  example  of  one  type  of 
poverty  stricken  child  from  the  poorer  sections  of 
Philadelphia.  She  came  to  the  Clinic  first  on  April  4, 
1911,  when  nine  years  of  age,  brought  here  by  the 
visitor  of  a  charitable  organization,  on  account  of 
backwardness  in  school.  Her  first  school  experience 
began  at  the  age  of  seven  in  a  parochial  school,  and 
when  brought  to  the  Clinic  she  had  just  been  pro- 
moted to  the  second  grade  with  a  poor  record,  partly 
due  to  irregular  attendance,  but  more  particularly  on 
account  of  inability  to  learn. 

Her  birth  was  natural,  at  full  time,  but  she  was  a 
small  baby  weighing  only  six  pounds.  She  was  nursed 
by  her  mother,  and  during  her  infancy  lived  and  grew 
as  an  ordinary  child.  At  one  year,  her  first  steps  were 
taken,  but  she  early  exhibited  a  speech  defect  which 
prevented  her  talking  until  she  was  six  years  old  and 
which  remains  with  her  still.  Her  first  tooth  appeared 
at  six  months  of  age;  she  sat  up  at  eight  months  and 
played  with  toys  and  behaved  like  any  ordinary  child. 
During  her  second  summer,  as  is  not  uncommon  with 
children  of  her  social  type,  she  had  what  is  reported 
as  summer  complaint. 

There  were  three  children  altogether  in  the  family, 


62  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

but  one  had  died  from  chicken-pox.  S.  is  the  second 
child.  Her  brother,  who  is  eleven,  is  so  decidedly 
defective  mentally  that  he  is  to  be  entered  permanently 
in  an  institution  for  the  feebleminded.  This  girl  looks 
like  her  mother,  who  is  and  has  always  been  in  good 
health,  employed  always  in  hard  work  in  a  textile  mill 
which  she  continued  during  the  first  four  months  of 
pregnancy  with  this  child.  The  woman  drinks  a  glass 
of  beer  occasionally,  but  not  to  excess,  and  conducts 
herself  in  every  way  as  an  ordinary,  hard  working,  un- 
educated and  uncultured  Irish  woman  whose  greatest 
task  is  to  make  both  ends  meet.  Her  father  died  of 
old  age  after  living  a  life  of  health  and  hard  work  as  a 
brick-layer.  Her  mother,  who  was  otherwise  normal, 
died  of  heart  trouble,  leaving  behind  ten  children, 
all  reported  normal  and  healthy.  The  history  of 
the  mother's  family,  therefore,  presents  no  abnor- 
malities. 

The  child's  father  is  living  and  is  reported  as  mentally 
normal  and  healthy.  However,  he  is  addicted  to 
alcoholic  excesses,  does  not  work  steadily  and  is  a 
chronic  deserter.  He  can  read  and  write,  but  did  not 
succeed  in  completing  his  public  school  education. 
His  father  was  killed  in  a  railroad  accident  and  his 
mother  died  of  Bright's  disease.  His  brothers  are  all 
reported  normal.  From  both  sides  of  the  house,  there- 
fore, this  child  has  a  clear  mental  record. 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     63 

As  has  been  said,  this  child  looks  like  her  mother, 
which  means  that  she  conforms  to  the  Irish  type,  with 
a  very  florid  complexion,  freckled  face,  light,  sandy 
hair,  and  the  speech  and  actions  of  a  street  child  of  a 
large  city.  She  is  somewhat  round-shouldered  with  the 
right  shoulder  lower  than  the  left  and  a  decided  spinal 
curvature  to  the  left.  She  is  decidedly  underweight 
and  stunted,  with  a  pendulous  abdomen.  Her  height 
is  127.0  cm.  and  weight  is  21.3  kilograms,  with  a  girth 
of  head  20.4  inches,  biparietal  diameter  5.7  inches; 
occipito-f rental  7  inches;  occipito-mental  8.4  inches, 
and  bitemporal  4.5  inches.  The  grip  of  her  right  hand, 
according  to  the  dynamometer,  is  10  pounds  and  the 
left  9  pounds.  Her  skull  is  well  shaped  with  some 
marked  protuberances  in  the  forehead;  her  eyes  are 
blue  with  a  vision  decidedly  subnormal;  her  nose  is 
broad  at  the  bridge,  and  nostrils  small  with  upper  lip 
shortened;  her  teeth  much  decayed,  notched,  and 
covered  with  deposits  of  tartar,  the  upper  jaw  over- 
hanging the  lower  fully  three-eighths  of  an  inch 
with  her  teeth  closed,  and  as  might  be  expected,  her 
palate  is  very  high,  narrow  and  V-shaped.  The  nose, 
teeth  and  palate  malformations  are  probably  due  to 
enlarged  tonsils  and  adenoids.  Her  ears  are  normal 
in  size,  but  the  lobes  and  helices  are  underdeveloped. 
The  nutrition  and  circulation  are  not  very  good,  giving 
her  hands  a  cold,  dry  feeling.  The  upper  chest  expan- 


64  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

sion  is  three-fourths  of  an  inch  and  the  lower  one- 
half  inch.  Her  speech  is  marred  by  a  bad  infantile 
stammer. 

The  mentality  of  this  child  is  far  above  what  a  casual 
observer  would  expect  from  her  general  appearance  and 
social  station.  She  reads  fairly  well  in  the  second 
reader  and  remembers  a  fair  portion  of  what  she  reads, 
and  her  spelling  is  confined  to  words  of  the  same  grade. 
She  does  not  know  the  multiplication  tables  and  her 
arithmetic  is  equal  to  that  of  the  first  grade.  The  Binet 
tests  indicated  a  mental  capacity  belonging  to  a  child 
of  about  six  years  of  age.  A  part  of  this  retardation 
is  undoubtedly  due  to  the  limited  opportunity  the  child 
has  had  for  gaining  general  information  and  for  securing 
the  proper  intellectual  training.  When  tested  with 
the  form  board  she  started  with  no  apparent  com- 
prehension of  the  task,  but  gradually  worked  it  out. 
On  the  second  trial  she  placed  the  blocks  correctly  in 
about  55  seconds  with  one  mistake,  and  on  the  third 
trial  she  placed  them  in  45  seconds  with  no  mistakes. 
In  disposition  she  is  obedient,  good-natured,  and  affec- 
tionate, without  any  marked  bad  habits  except  a  lack 
of  politeness  due  to  her  neglect.  At  the  end  of  the 
examination  it  was  recommended  that  the  child  be 
sent  to  the  nose  and  throat  and  eye  clinics,  that  her 
teeth  be  cleaned,  and  the  orthodontic  work  necessary 
for  straightening  the  jaw  be  performed.  After  that 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     65 

it  was  thought  advisable  for  her  to  spend  some  time  in 
the  country. 

On  July  6, 1910,  through  a  charitable  society,  arrange- 
ments were  made  for  the  removal  of  the  adenoid  vegeta- 
tion, and  this  was  done  May  4,  1911.  On  July  15, 
1911,  by  special  arrangement,  she  was  taken  in  charge 
by  the  Psychological  Clinic,  placed  in  a  boarding  house, 
and  entered  in  the  special  class. 

Susan's  home  is  at  the  rear  of  another  house  in  a 
narrow  street,  fairly  well  paved  and  fairly  clean.  The 
entrance  is  by  way  of  an  alley  not  more  than  three 
feet  wide.  The  yard  is  clean,  except  for  a  pile  of  rub- 
bish, rags  and  papers  (but  no  refuse)  in  one  corner, 
which  is  to  be  removed  next  ash-day.  The  house  is 
a  typical  rear  dwelling,  with  three  rooms  one  above 
the  other.  It  is  reasonably  airy,  and  possesses  that 
one  advantage  of  rear  houses,  privacy.  The  lower 
room  is  clean  and  neat,  but  very  poor  and  shabby. 

The  household  consists  of  Mrs.  C.  and  her  three 
children,  D.  aged  twelve,  S.  aged  ten,  and  J.  aged  three, 
and  Mrs.  F.  a  sister  of  Mr.  C.  Mrs.  F.  and  all  the 
children  looked  bright  and  clean.  J.  had  a  hammer, 
some  nails  and  blocks  of  wood,  and  was  having  a  good 
time,  which  shows  that  an  intelligent  effort  is  being 
made  to  keep  the  children  busy  and  happy.  They  are 
anxiously  waiting  to  have  the  older  boy  admitted  to 
an  institution  for  feebleminded.  There  is  a  play- 


66  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

ground  within  a  block  of  the  house,  where  he  spends  the 
greater  part  of  his  time  and  is  very  much  interested 
in  some  manual  work  taught  there.  J.,  the  other  boy, 
is  an  unusually  bright,  attractive-looking  little  fellow. 

Mrs.  C.'s  whole  life  appears  to  have  been  the  never- 
ending  struggle  of  a  decent  and  self-respecting  woman 
against  poverty  and  the  degradation  of  a  life  with  a 
lazy  drunkard  for  a  husband.  From  the  earliest 
childhood,  Susan's  surroundings  have  been  those  of 
poverty,  and  often  of  absolute  want.  Mrs.  C.  did  not 
apply  for  any  charity  until  January,  1910.  Before  she 
went  to  the  society  the  family  had  lived  on  bread  and 
tea  for  a  week.  The  constant  struggle  for  food,  and 
the  moving  from  place  to  place,  have  had  a  serious  effect 
on  the  children.  The  only  means  of  support  which 
the  family  possess  are  Mrs.  C.'s  wages,  the  help  given 
them  by  the  charitable  society,  and  the  decidedly 
fitful  payments  of  Mr.  C.,  who  is  bound  over  by  the 
court  to  pay  a  small  sum  weekly  toward  the  support 
of  his  wife  and  children. 

Susan  presents  one  of  those  critical  cases  fraught 
with  so  many  possibilities  for  good  or  evil  to  the  com- 
munity which  has  made  her  what  she  is.  Through  no 
fault  of  her  own  she  was  born  near  the  borderline 
between  normality  and  feeblemindedness,  and  equally 
through  no  fault  of  hers,  the  inability  to  procure  the 
nursing,  good  food,  shelter,  clothing,  and  education 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     67 

demanded  by  her  congenitally  weak  constitution,  has 
caused  her  mentality  to  waver  between  advance  and 
retrogression,  until  now  the  slightest  stimulus  or  addi- 
tional burden  may  throw  the  balance  in  either  direction. 

7.  Julia  Grampian,  a  girl  of  eleven  years,  was  first 
brought  to  the  Clinic  April  3,  1911,  by  her  mother  on 
account  of  the  child's  backwardness  in  school  work. 
She  had  started  school  when  she  was  six  and  a  half 
years  old  and  at  the  time  of  the  examination  was  in  the 
third  grade,  where  she  had  been  for  two  years.  Her 
progress  in  school  had  always  been  slow  and  she  had 
remained  almost  double  the  usual  time  in  each  grade 
up  to  the  third.  As  the  child  had  three  different 
teachers  and  had  attended  the  classes  in  which  children 
ordinarily  make  good  progress,  the  cause  of  her  retarda- 
tion did  not  seem  to  lie  in  school  conditions. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  present  history  of  the  child 
revealed  some  causes  of  mental  retardation.  Her  birth, 
to  begin  with,  was  instrumental  and  extremely  long  and 
tedious.  She  began  to  walk  at  two  years  of  age  and 
talked  at  three  years,  showing  a  retardation  in  both 
accomplishments.  Her  first  teeth  did  not  come  until 
fourteen  months  of  age,  and  she  did  not  sit  alone  until 
ten  months.  At  five  years  fainting  spells  began  and 
continued  regularly  until  April,  1910.  Then  there  was 
a  cessation  of  the  spells  until  April  1,  1911,  when 
the  attack  appeared  more  like  a  convulsion.  This, 


68  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

with  other  symptoms,  seemed  to  indicate  that  the 
fainting  spells  had  taken  on  an  epileptoid  character. 
Three  years  prevous  to  her  examination  the  operation 
for  adenoids  had  been  performed,  although  she  con- 
tinued to  catch  cold  easily  and  had  several  attacks 
of  bronchitis. 

There  is  one  other  living  child  in  the  family,  and 
a  boy  of  three  years  died  from  whooping  cough  fol- 
lowed by  convulsions.  Since  the  time  of  his  death 
three  miscarriages  have  occurred.  The  mother's 
health  is  poor.  The  father  is  an  engineer  and  works 
regularly,  though  he  suffers  somewhat  from  kidney 
trouble.  The  paternal  and  maternal  grandparents 
were  all  normal,  though  the  father  had  an  uncle  who 
was  very  defective  mentally  and  who  died  at  the  age 
of  forty  years  without  any  improvement  in  his 
condition. 

In  physical  appearance  the  girl  is  quite  pleasing. 
She  has  the  appearance  of  a  little  housewife,  with  a 
certain  subdued  air  of  activity  about  her.  Her  shoulders 
droop  somewhat  and  the  right  shoulder  is  higher  than 
the  left.  Her  muscular  development  is  fair,  though  the 
whole  left  side  of  the  body  appears  somewhat  smaller 
and  lower  than  the  right.  Her  height  is  135  cm.  and 
her  weight  is  30.8  kilograms. 

She  is  microcephalic  with  a  head  girth  of  20.25 
inches;  a  biparietal  dimension  of  5.9;  occipito- 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     69 

frontal  7.1;  and  occipito-mental  8.5.  Her  hair  ia 
thin,  but  glossy.  Her  eyes  are  apparently  set  wide  apart 
and  the  pupils  react  normally  to  light.  The  internal 
canthus  is  adherent  and  her  vision  is  about  one-half 
normal,  and  the  lobes  of  the  ears  are  undeveloped. 
Hearing  is  normal.  The  bridge  of  the  nose  is  rounded 
and  the  nose  itself  is  undeveloped.  The  palate  is  high. 
The  teeth  are  irregular,  but  in  fairly  good  condition 
on  the  whole,  though  one  or  two  are  badly  decayed. 
At  the  time  of  her  examination  the  hands  were  cold 
and  moist,  though  the  mother  reported  that  they  were 
usually  hot.  Cyanosis  was  evident  in  the  purple 
hands,  and  her  face  and  cheeks  were  flushed.  The 
vaso-motor  system  seems  to  be  unstable  and  her  heart 
rhythm  irregular. 

She  was  recommended  for  examination  at  the  eye, 
nose  and  throat  and  dental  clinics,  and  for  the 
Wassermann  blood  test.  The  last  test  showed  negative 
results.  Her  nose  and  throat  were  found  to  be  free 
from  obstruction,  but  her  eyes  were  refracted  and 
glasses  procured.  The  mental  examination  indicated 
a  mental  capacity  thoroughly  in  accord  with  her 
present  retarded  school  grading.  She  could  read  fairly 
well  in  the  fourth  reader,  but  seems  to  have  no  idea  of 
making  up  words  by  composition.  She  could  tell  the 
names  of  colors,  could  distinguish  colors,  and  had  a 
visual  memory  span  for  six  colors.  She  answered 


70  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

correctly  2+1=3;  4+2  =  6;  7+5  =  12,  but  failed  on 
4+5  and  on  10  cents  minus  5  cents  plus  1  cent. 
The  Binet  test  indicated  that  she  had  the  mental 
capacity  of  a  child  ten  years  old. 

According  to  her  mother's  report,  she  was  disobedient 
and  never  happy  or  affectionate,  loving  housework  and 
enjoying  scrubbing  and  cleaning;  seized  at  times  with 
extremely  violent  outbreaks  of  temper  without  provo- 
cation; always  nervous  and  quarrelsome  with  other 
children,  taking  offense  very  easily  and  sensitive 
to  any  criticism  or  remarks  about  herself.  She  is  able 
to  take  care  of  herself  and  her  daily  wants,  to  eat  at  the 
table  and  to  conduct  herself  in  the  ordinary  things  of 
life  with  propriety. 

The  principal  of  the  school  where  she  has  been  a  pupil 
for  the  last  four  years  reported  that  she  seems  to  be  an 
extremely  interesting  case.  According  to  him,  with  the 
exception  of  her  arithmetic,  which  seems  utterly  beyond 
her  grasp,  she  is  doing  fairly  well  in  other  studies;  her 
conduct  is  always  good,  though  he  repeats  the  state- 
ment concerning  nervousness  and  sensitiveness.  Her 
grade  teacher  speaks  of  the  peculiar  trait  that  J.  had 
of  ruining  her  work  papers  by  putting  marks  through 
each  letter  after  forming  it,  a  practice  that  can  be 
prevented  if  the  child  is  watched  carefully,  but  which 
returns  the  moment  the  watch  is  discontinued.  This 
action  appeared  to  the  teacher  to  be  a  form  of  dis- 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     71 

obedience  and  misconduct,  against  which  punishment 
proved  to  be  of  no  avail. 

Her  case  was  diagnosed  as  mental  deficiency,  par- 
tially due  to  hereditary  causes  and  partially  to  epileptic 
fits. 

Julia  is  the  only  child  in  a  good  home,  particularly 
well  furnished,  airy  and  comfortable,  although  her 
father  is  a  night-watchmen  earning  only  thirteen  dol- 
lars a  week.  The  members  of  this  household  are  the 
father  and  mother,  Mrs.  C.'s  mother,  and  the  girl. 
Formerly  the  parents  had,  in  their  effort  to  do  the  best 
thing  by  the  child,  punished  her  quite  severely,  but 
after  suggestions  from  the  Clinic  they  substituted  the 
punishment  of  sending  her  to  bed,  and  they  already 
think  this  has  a  better  effect.  She  does  not  get  so 
excited  or  nervous.  J.  is  fond  of  housework  and  her 
mother  allows  her  to  help  her  about  the  house  a  great 
deal. 

8.  Morgan  Cross  was  a  boy  of  nine  years  when  he 
first  came  to  the  Clinic,  as  far  back  as  October  7,  1909. 
He  was  brought  by  his  mother  on  account  of  backward- 
ness in  school  work.  He  began  his  schooling  at  the 
regulation  age  of  six  years,  and  had  spent  three  years 
in  getting  into  the  second  grade.  His  progress  was 
distinctly  erratic.  In  spelling  he  was  usually  able  to 
make  80  or  90  per  cent  grade.  In  other  studies, 
especially  arithmetic,  he  was  exceedingly  deficient. 


72  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

He  has  the  general  appearance  and  expression  of  a 
boy  mentally  unbalanced.  His  face  constantly  wears 
a  look  of  tenseness,  sometimes  changing  to  an  expres- 
sion of  fear  as  if  he  were  expecting  something  to  happen 
to  him.  His  movements  are  irregular  and  jerky; 
sometimes  he  is  seized  with  such  fits  of  restlessness 
that  he  cannot  sit  quiet  even  for  a  few  minutes.  On 
this  account  his  teacher  at  school  said  that  he  needed 
individual  attention,  and  that  otherwise  he  could  not 
be  interested  in  his  studies,  as  most  of  his  mistakes 
and  failures  were  due  to  carelessness. 

According  to  the  report  of  his  mother,  Morgan  was 
born  naturally  and  at  full  time,  and  remained  a  healthy 
baby,  though  nursed  on  a  bottle.  He  was  slow  in 
walking,  but  learned  to  talk  at  the  usual  time.  At 
seven  years  of  age  he  had  measles  and  whooping  cough. 
A  little  while  previous  to  his  examination  at  the  Clinic 
he  was  operated  upon  for  adenoids,  and  following  the 
operation  his  parents  noted  a  general  improvement  in 
his  conduct  and  mentality. 

Three  other  children  were  born  in  the  family  besides 
M.,  who  is  next  to  the  oldest,  and  one  miscarriage 
occurred  just  before  his  birth.  The  other  two  children 
are  normal  and  the  oldest  boy  aged  ten  is  reported  to 
be  exceedingly  bright. 

The  mother's  health  has  not  always  been  good. 
Some  years  ago  tubercular  glands  were  discovered  in 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     73 

her  neck  and  she  moved  to  the  country,  where,  accord- 
ing to  a  later  diagnosis,  the  fresh  air  and  country  life 
have  checked  the  threatened  disease,  though  she  still 
remains  extremely  nervous.  The  father  is  a  mechanic 
and  adds  odd  jobs  to  his  regular  work.  Both  of  the 
boy's  grandfathers  are  dead,  but  both  of  his  grand- 
mothers are  living. 

The  only  mental  abnormality  reported  in  the  family 
history  is  that  of  excessive  nervousness  in  the  mother's 
family.  Her  mother  has  had  nervous  spells  which 
were  so  marked  as  to  warrant  the  term  insane,  though 
she  has  never  been  placed  in  a  sanitarium. 

At  first  glance  the  boy's  physical  appearance  is  not 
bad.  Though  slender  in  build  he  has  a  fair  muscular 
development  for  eleven  years  and  his  height  is  slightly 
above  normal.  His  height  is  137  cm.  and  his  weight 
is  29.3  kilograms;  girth  of  his  head  is  21.5;  biparietal 
dimension  5.9;  occipito-frontal  7.6;  occipito-mental 
9.  A  closer  examination  shows  marked  malnutrition, 
shown  by  prominent  ribs  and  joints,  and  marked 
venation,  with  sluggish,  superficial  circulation,  the 
superficial  lymphatics  in  arms  and  neck  being  some- 
what swollen.  Adenoid  signs  appeared  in  the  nose, 
broad  and  flattened  with  small  nostrils;  in  the  high 
and  rather  narrow  palate,  and  in  his  drooping  shoulders. 
The  ears  are  well  developed  with  audition  of  the  left 
ear  more  acute  than  the  right.  At  the  time  of  the 


74  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

first  examination  the  second  teeth  were  coming  through 
somewhat  irregularly.  His  heart  and  lungs  are  normal 
in  size  and  sound  and  his  pulse  is  88.  His  pupils  react 
to  light  and  accommodation  and  the  eye  muscles  are 
well  co-ordinated. 

He  appeared  to  know  the  primary  colors  both  by 
name  and  by  sight,  though  he  sometimes  confused  purple 
with  green  or  blue.  He  could  spell  "boat,"  "mouse," 
but  spelled  "house"  h-o-r-s-e.  He  could  read  in  the 
second  reader,  but  did  not  seem  to  remember  what  he 
had  read  and  was  not  able  to  recall  any  facts  from  a 
paragraph.  He  subtracted  18  from  25  incorrectly 
and  could  not  divide  50  cents  by  25,  nor  subtract  25 
from  50.  He  was  able  to  work  with  the  form  board 
normally. 

After  the  examination  he  was  recommended  for 
further  treatment  to  the  nose  and  throat  and  eye 
clinics.  On  October  12,  1909,  his  eyes  were  refracted 
and  glasses  were  prescribed.  On  April  1st  of  the 
following  year  his  mother  reported  that  the  boy  was 
doing  very  well.  About  two  months  later  his  case 
again  came  up  before  the  school  board  of  the  town  in 
which  he  lived,  and  his  parents  were  advised  to  send 
him  to  an  institution  for  mental  defectives.  This, 
however,  was  not  done.  On  the  following  October 
the  boy  was  taken  again  to  the  eye  specialist  and  two 
pairs  of  glasses  secured,  because  the  boy  constantly 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     75 

lost  the  ones  he  had  and  the  intention  of  his  mother 
was  to  keep  one  pair  at  home  and  one  at  school.  He 
informed  the  oculist  he  did  not  study  because  he  had 
made  up  his  mind  to  learn  carpentry  and  that  there 
was  no  use  in  doing  anything  anyway,  for  the  world 
was  coming  to  an  end  before  he  grew  up.  At  this 
time  his  conduct  was  very  much  improved,  and  in  the 
following  February  the  report  was  received  that  his 
mental  progress  was  also  very  good  as  shown  by  an 
average  of  94  in  history  and  85  in  geography. 

He  was  entered  in  the  special  class  of  the  Summer 
School  July  5,  1911. 

9.  Flora  Cummings,  a  girl  of  thirteen  years,  made 
her  first  visit  to  the  Clinic,  November  5,  1910,  under 
the  care  of  her  mother  and  through  the  advice  of  a 
school  principal.  A  casual  look  at  her  would  in  no 
wise  prepare  the  observer  for  a  statement  of  her  mental 
condition.  She  is  tall,  mature  and  well  formed,  quiet 
and  mannerly  in  all  of  her  actions,  carries  herself  as 
well  as  the  average  girl  of  her  age,  with  a  face  more 
than  usually  pleasing  and  pretty,  exhibiting  that 
alternation  of  mobility  and  repose  which  usually  dis- 
tinguishes the  normal  child  from  the  abnormal.  It  is 
only  when  she  smiles  or  begins  to  talk  that  her  infantil- 
ism appears. 

The  life  history  of  this  child  is  a  story  of  backward- 
ness in  almost  all  the  usual  instinctive  acquirements 


76  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

of  children,  with  the  exception  of  first  dentition  and 
walking.  Her  birth  was  normal,  at  full  time,  and  she 
was  nursed  by  her  mother,  who  did  not  notice  any- 
thing abnormal  in  her.  Her  first  teeth  were  cut  at 
the  age  of  six  months  and  she  began  to  walk  at  eleven 
months  of  age.  During  her  teething  she  almost  died, 
although  no  spasms  or  convulsions  appeared.  From 
three  months  of  age  she  suffered  much  with  indigestion, 
but  gained  in  weight  continually.  From  six  months 
until  eighteen  months  she  had  fainting  spells,  which 
occurred  when  she  was  disappointed  of  any  desire, 
for  example,  if  her  mother  refused  to  pick  her  up  from 
the  floor.  She  did  not  talk  until  she  was  three  years 
old  and  then  her  voice  sounded  as  if  she  were  hoarse. 
From  five  years  to  seven  she  was  scarcely  able  to  make 
herself  understood  on  account  of  grimaces  which  seized 
her  whenever  she  attempted  to  speak.  From  the 
mother's  report,  her  speech  defect  seemed  to  be  a  kind 
of  stuttering.  There  are  no  illnesses  reported  in  her 
life.  She  began  her  school  life  at  the  usual  age  of  six 
and  has  attended  several  public  schools,  in  which  she 
made  no  progress  whatever.  Two  months  previous 
to  her  examination  she  had  been  entered  in  a  special 


In  the  immediate  family  there  are  two  other  children 
both  of  whom  are  normal.  Previous  to  this  child's 
birth,  with  the  exception  of  nervousness,  the  mother 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     77 

was  in  good  health.  The  mother's  mother  died  at 
seventy-two  years  of  age,  having  been  paralyzed  for 
twenty-four  years.  The  mother's  father  also  died  at 
seventy-two,  but  from  heart  trouble.  No  other  abnor- 
malities were  reported  in  the  mother's  family. 

A  vein  of  abnormality  appears  in  the  father's  family. 
He  himself,  according  to  an  aunt's  report,  has  never 
been  able  to  hold  a  position  except  with  the  help  of 
his  relatives.  An  interior  decorator  by  trade,  on  one 
occasion,  it  is  reported,  he  painted  a  room  and  charged 
$1  for  the  day's  work,  supplying  the  material  himself. 
For  a  time  he  tried  to  be  a  conductor  on  the  street 
cars,  but  was  not  able  to  fill  the  position.  He  is  extreme- 
ly dull  and  phlegmatic.  His  father  is  living  and  per- 
fectly normal.  His  mother  died  at  the  age  of  fifty 
from  diabetes.  One  of  his  brothers  died  from  tubercu- 
losis. The  rest  of  his  brothers  and  sisters  are  healthy 
and  normal  in  every  way. 

As  has  already  been  said,  Flora's  personal  appearance 
is  extremely  good  for  a  girl  of  her  mentality.  Her 
height  is  156.7  cm.  and  her  weight  is  42.7  kilograms. 
Her  skull  case  appears  slightly  microcephalic,  with  a 
girth  of  21  inches;  biparietal  5.25;  occipito-frontal 
7.25,  and  occipito-mental  8.5.  Her  hair  is  thick,  brown 
and  glossy,  and  grows  well  down  on  her  forehead. 
The  general  contour  of  her  head  and  face  is  good. 
All  of  her  features  are  normal  and  no  special  stigmata 


78  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

appear  anywhere.  Her  right  shoulder  is  carried  some- 
what lower  than  the  left  and  an  extreme  flatness  of 
the.  ribs  appears  in  the  lower  thorax  on  both  sides. 
The  abdomen  is  very  prominent,  but  no  actual  lordosis 
is  present.  The  heart  sounds  are  quick,  active  and 
distinctly  heard  all  over  the  pre-cordial  region.  The 
respiratory  sounds  are  normal  and  her  circulation 
appears  very  good. 

On  November  12,  1910,  her  eyes  were  examined  by 
a  specialist,  who  reported  that  the  eye  grounds  are 
perfectly  normal.  A  little  later  the  Wassermann  blood 
test  was  negative. 

At  the  mental  examination  it  developed  that  she 
could  select  primary  colors  very  quickly  and  could 
pick  out  readily  any  two  from  a  number  placed  before 
her.  She  could  read  out  of  the  first  reader,  but  was 
not  able  to  get  the  sound  of  certain  words  like  "pony" 
by  the  letters.  She  called  "talk"  take  and  misread 
in  for  "is".  She  could  work  the  form  board  accur- 
ately but  slowly.  Beyond  this  her  intellectual  acquisi- 
tions seemed  to  be  nil. 

In  disposition  the  mother  reports  that  the  child  is 
kind  and  good-hearted;  that  she  has  no  fits  of  extreme 
temper;  that  she  plays  nicely  with  other  children  or 
with  children  of  her  own  age  until  they  become  tired 
of  her  inability  to  keep  up  with  their  games.  She  is 
so  good-natured  that  she  is  imposed  upon  by  others. 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.      79 

Her  teacher  reports  that  she  is  deceitful  and  appears 
to  be  particularly  interested  in  the  boys,  because  she 
constantly  tells  the  teacher  tales  about  seeing  boys 
and  girls  of  the  school  kissing  each  other.  She  herself 
is  partial  toward  the  boys  and  is  popular  with  all  of 
them.  About  the  first  of  December  the  same  teacher 
reported  that  the  girl  was  doing  much  better.  She  was 
more  obedient  and  did  not  pay  so  much  attention  to 
the  opposite  sex.  A  second  examination  at  the  Psy- 
chological Clinic  on  May  19th  revealed  nothing  new 
except  a  lateral  curvature  in  the  upper  dorsal  region, 
and  some  weakening  of  the  arch  in  both  feet. 

On  July  5th  she  was  entered  in  the  special  class  of 
the  Summer  School,  classified  as  a  mental  defective, 
educable  to  only  a  small  degree,  but  easily  trainable. 

F.  comes  from  a  good  home, — good,  that  is,  in  some 
ways.  A  rather  high  standard  of  living  is  kept  up 
with  a  great  deal  of  difficulty.  The  mother  does  all 
she  is  able  to  do  for  the  child,  which  is  not  much, 
because  of  Flora's  low  grade  of  mentality.  The  mother 
is  not  a  strong  nature,  and  yields,  it  is  said,  to  the  teas- 
ing of  the  child.  The  father  is  a  negative  factor  in  the 
household. 

10.  Agnes  Doolan  is  a  girl  ten  years  of  age,  who  still 
shows  her  country  rearing  in  a  sound  body  and  clear 
skin.  She  was  first  brought  to  the  Clinic  on  June 
15,  1910,  by  a  social  worker  of  the  Children's  Aid 


80  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

Society  on  account  of  peculiar  backwardness  and 
nervousness.  Her  difficulties  in  life  began  early,  for, 
though  her  birth  was  natural,  she  was  extremely  small, 
weighing  only  three  pounds,  and  was  nearly  asphyxiated 
by  prolonged  delivery.  For  three  months  she  did  not 
gain  much  in  weight,  but  from  that  time  normal  physi- 
cal growth  began  and  continued.  At  eleven  months 
of  age  she  took  her  first  step  and  was  saying  her  first 
words  when  a  year  old.  She  had  measles,  but  no  other 
infantile  diseases. 

Ten  other  brothers  and  sisters  were  born  to  her 
parents,  one  a  still-birth,  one  who  died  of  measles, 
and  nine  still  living.  Some  of  the  other  children, 
however,  are  backward,  especially  one  of  the  two  who 
are  old  enough  to  go  to  school. 

Just  before  the  birth  of  this  child  the  mother,  who 
is  an  American  of  French  descent,  was  not  in  good 
health,  though  she  has  since  recovered  and  is  well  and 
strong.  Her  father  is  living  and  in  good  health,  and 
her  mother,  who  had  eleven  children,  is  reported 
healthy.  Among  the  eleven  children  there  was  one 
sister  subject  to  epileptic  seizures.  The  child's  father, 
fifty-three  years  old,  an  American  of  English  descent, 
has  always  been  in  good  health,  but  works  irregularly 
on  account  of  alcoholic  intemperance.  His  father  was 
always  sickly  and  died  from  some  liver  complaint. 
His  mother  succumbed  to  dropsy;  otherwise  she  was 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     81 

always  in  good  health  and  had  eleven  children  all 
mentally  normal. 

Agnes  started  school  when  she  was  eight  years  old, 
and  has  attended  regularly  since  that  time,  five  months 
in  a  country  school  and  two  months  in  the  Normal 
Model  School,  but  in  neither  place  did  she  succeed  in 
advancing  mentally.  Her  teacher  reports  that  she 
entirely  lacks  concentration  and  that  her  attention 
can  be  held  only  for  the  shortest  time.  The  child  is 
affectionate,  sympathetic  and  obedient.  She  knew 
the  names  of  colors  and  could  distinguish  colors. 
She  failed  to  spell  "doll,"  "Fred,"  or  "read"  but  was 
able  to  spell  "can".  She  read  a  little  in  the  primer, 
placed  the  pegs  correctly  in  the  peg  board,  and  failed 
to  make  combinations  with  colored  blocks  beyond  5. 
As  indicated  by  stringing  beads  and  by  her  general 
movements  her  co-ordination  is  good.  She  moves 
with  the  ordinary  actions  of  a  healthy  child  and  seems 
to  be  full  of  life  and  health. 

Physically,  her  good  appearance  is  marred  some- 
what by  bad  posture  due  to  lateral  curvature.  Her 
hair  is  soft  and  glossy,  her  cheeks  are  full  and  red  and 
her  eyes  bright.  A  second  glance  at  her  head  reveals 
that  it  is  somewhat  undersized  and  measurements 
give  a  girth  of  only  18.5  inches,  biparietal  dimension 
of  5.25  inches;  occipito-mental  8.25  inches;  occipito- 
frontal  7  inches.  Her  height  is  127.7  cm.  and  her 


82  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

weight  is  30.8  kilograms.  The  grip  of  her  right  hand 
is  17  and  that  of  her  left  is  15.  The  upper  chest 
expansion  is  1.5  inches  and  the  lower  2  inches.  Her 
eyes  are  rather  small,  possibly  on  account  of  some 
fcetal  arrest,  with  defective  vision  in  both  eyes,  pre- 
dominating in  the  right.  There  were  no  abnormali- 
ties of  the  ears,  mouth,  teeth,  palate,  nose,  heart  or 
lungs. 

By  June  20,  1910,  five  days  after  her  first  visit  to 
the  Clinic,  her  caretaker  reported  that  the  child's 
nervousness  had  entirely  disappeared  and  that  she 
seemed  quite  intelligent,  affectionate  and  obedient. 
Several  months  later,  October  31,  she  is  reported  by 
the  same  teacher  to  be  rather  sulky  and  to  have  taken 
bread  and  buns  from  the  table  and  pantry.  She  still 
showed  energy  in  housework  and  a  very  clever  imita- 
tion, but  was  unable  to  remember  the  stories  read  to 
her,  had  no  idea  of  locality,  and  could  never  be  sent  on 
an  errand  a  block  from  the  house.  On  December  5, 
1910,  she  was  entered  in  the  public  school  in  the  first 
grade  A,  where,  on  January  4,  it  was  reported  by  the 
principal  that  she  was  a  sweet-tempered,  lovable  and 
obedient  child,  who  gave  no  trouble  in  the  school 
room  and  tried  desperately  hard  to  do  her  work.  On 
February  2,  she  was  promoted  to  the  first  grade  B 
and  did  well.  On  March  28th  her  work  was  reported 
by  a  Clinic  examiner  to  be  about  one-third  that  of 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     83 

the  average  child.  On  May  12th  she  was  again 
examined  at  the  Clinic  by  a  medical  examiner,  and  on 
account  of  a  cough  pointing  to  some  naso-pharyngeal 
trouble  she  was  sent  on  May  19th  to  the  nose  and  throat 
clinic  of  the  University  Hospital,  where  adenoid  vegeta- 
tion was  diagnosed.  She  was  operated  upon  June  21st 
and  the  adenoids  removed.  On  June  22d  she  was 
sent  to  the  oculist,  where  her  eyes  were  refracted  and 
glasses  fitted. 

She  entered  the  special  class  on  July  5th. 

In  making  this  diagnosis  due  consideration  must 
be  given  to  A.'s  early  home  environment,  which  has 
undoubtedly  had  much  to  do  with  her  retardation.  The 
family  is  very  low  in  the  social  scale.  The  father, 
by  trade  a  lumberman,  has  worked  in  a  brick  yard,  and 
though  he  is  reported  to  be  of  over-average  intelli- 
gence and  well  liked  by  his  fellows,  is  not  able  to  hold 
his  job  on  account  of  excessive  drinking.  He  has 
deserted  his  family  frequently  and  at  present  has  been 
away  for  four  years.  The  mother  has  worked  at  a 
variety  of  things, — washing,  cleaning  and  in  a  restau- 
rant. She  is  reported  as  having  normal  mentality, 
being  very  loquacious  and  given  to  posing. 

With  nine  children  to  be  supported  in  this  haphazard 
way,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  family  failed  to 
prosper.  Until  broken  up  by  the  local  Children's 
Aid  Society,  they  lived  in  a  field  outside  the  town, 


84  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

like  animals  in  filth  and  rags,  the  children  learning 
nothing  at  all  and  having  no  intercourse  with  out- 
siders. When  the  Children's  Aid  Society  took  A. 
away  she  did  not  cry,  but  went  gladly.  She  was 
placed  for  a  year  with  a  farmer,  who,  according  to  his 
own  statement,  treated  her  badly,  beating  her,  and 
not  teaching  her  anything.  Nevertheless,  she  cried 
at  leaving  him,  an  eloquent  comment  on  her  former 
home  life. 

Two  sisters,  one  seventeen  and  one  six,  are  in  a  state 
institution  for  feebleminded.  The  older  girl  is  undoubt- 
edly below  par  mentally,  but  the  superintendent  gives 
it  as  his  opinion  that  the  younger  is  the  victim  of  neglect 
and  underfeeding,  which  have  retarded  her  mentally 
as  well  as  physically.  It  was  in  hopes  of  saving  A.  from 
the  same  fate  that  the  Children's  Aid  Society  took 
charge  of  her  and  sent  her  to  the  Clinic. 

11.  Russell  French  is  a  little  boy  nine  years  of  age, 
with  ashy  complexion  and  the  withered  features  of  a 
person  beginning  to  grow  old.  He  came  to  the  Clinic 
February  13,  1911,  brought  by  his  mother  at  the 
instance  of  a  teacher  of  a  special  class  of  the  public 
school.  At  seven  he  had  begun  school  in  the  first 
grade,  but  remained  away  seven  months  during  his 
first  year  because  he  made  no  progress.  Then  he  was 
placed  in  a  special  class,  where  he  was  at  the  time  of 
the  examination. 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     85 

He  was  born  naturally  and  at  full  time,  but  his 
walking  was  delayed  until  the  age  of  two  and  his 
talking  until  the  age  of  four.  In  his  infancy  he  had 
measles  twice  and  chicken-pox  once,  and  at  two  years, 
though  reported  to  be  up  to  that  time  a  fat,  healthy 
baby,  he  was  operated  on  for  appendicitis.  Every 
winter  he  has  had  bronchitis  and  for  that  reason  he 
wears  a  pad  of  cotton  over  his  lungs  throughout  the  cold 
weather.  There  were  three  children  originally  in  the 
family,  but  the  first  child  died  when  four  months  old 
from  marasmus,  and  the  third,  when  two  months  old, 
from  what  is  reported  as  summer  complaint. 

The  mother  is  a  woman  of  thiity-five  yeais  of  age, 
in  good  health,  and  working  daily.  Hei  father  and 
mother  are  both  dead.  Two  and  a  half  years  after 
the  boy's  birth  his  father  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-two 
from  tuberculosis  of  the  lungs.  The  father's  brother 
is  at  present  in  a  tuberculosis  sanitarium,  though  both 
his  father  and  mother  are  living  and  there  seems  to  be 
no  hereditary  connection  with  the  tubercular  dia- 
thesis in  their  two  sons.  The  boy,  Russell,  though 
presenting  a  very  marked  tendency  toward  phthisis, 
was  pronounced,  after  a  careful  examination  at  the 
Medical  Clinic,  to  have  no  pharyngeal  signs  of  the 
disease  itself. 

In  general  appearance  he  is  short  and  small  for  his 
age,  with  a  height  of  123.8  centimeters  and  a  weight 


86  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

of  22  kilograms;  girth  of  head  19.8  inches,  biparietal 
dimension  5.3  inches;  occipito-f rental  7  inches,  and 
occipito-mental  8.3  inches.  The  tests  for  sense  acuity 
showed  that  his  hearing  and  vision  are  normal.  His 
teeth  were  badly  decayed  and  very  irregular  with 
Hutchison's  grooves  present  in  the  upper  incisors, 
which  led  to  his  being  sent  to  a  specialist  for  the  Was- 
sermann  test,  with  a  negative  result. 

In  mentality  the  child  was  far  below  normal.  He 
could  not  name  the  primary  colors,  but  was  able  to 
match  them.  He  could  not  spell,  or  read,  or  do 
arithmetic,  and  in  school  was  occupied  with  simple 
kindergarten  exercises.  The  Binet  tests  indicated 
a  mental  capacity  of  five  and  a  half  years.  He 
attempted  to  work  the  form  board  by  the  method  of 
tiial  and  error  and  showed  no  improvement  on  his 
second  and  third  efforts.  His  attention  was  fitful  and 
wandering  and  he  seemed  unable  to  concentrate  his 
mind  upon  any  task  for  any  length  of  time.  Physical 
weakness  and  mental  fatigue  were  evident  in  all  he 
tried  to  do.  He  was  classified  as  a  mental  defective 
capable  of  improvement. 

On  March  9,  1911,  a  nurse  of  the  Tuberculosis 
Society  visited  the  home  of  the  boy  and  endeavored 
to  secure  better  sanitary  and  hygienic  conditions. 
However,  she  met  with  no  co-operation  on  the  part  of 
the  family.  The  mother  was  living  with  the  aunt, 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     87 

whom  she  assisted  in  a  fish  market.  Mrs.  F.  refused 
to  permit  the  boy  to  leave  home,  to  make  any  change 
in  the  cotton  pad  across  his  lungs  until  April,  or  permit 
him  to  sleep  alone  until  that  time.  On  June  6th 
an  adenoid  operation  was  performed,  and  on  July 
5th  he  entered  the  special  class  of  the  Summer  School. 

12.  Ernest  Haskell,  a  boy  of  nine  years,  was  first 
brought  to  the  Clinic  on  Jan.  24,  1911,  by  his  mother 
on  account  of  backwardness  in  school.  In  general 
appearance  E.  is  a  meek,  quiet-looking  boy,  with  his 
head  held  slightly  on  one  side,  his  shoulders  drooped, 
and  his  body  drooping  like  that  of  an  old  man.  There 
is  a  general  old-fashioned  look  about  him  which  causes 
one  to  feel  for  him  a  sense  of  pity  in  no  wise  justified 
by  his  physical,  mental  or  social  condition. 

He  began  school  in  the  country  when  he  was  six 
years  old,  but  a  few  months  later  when  the  family 
moved,  he  was  transferred  to  a  city  school.  He  was 
regularly  promoted  and  at  the  tune  of  his  examination 
was  in  the  third  year  B.  Considering  the  fact  that  he 
was  changed  from  a  country  to  a  city  school,  the  loss 
of  one-half  year  in  advancement  is  not  serious.  His 
pedagogical  retardation  therefore  may  be  explained 
by  this  one  fact. 

The  personal  history  of  the  child  bears  out  this 
supposition.  His  birth  was  natural  and  at  full  time 
and  he  was  a  perfectly  healthy  and  normal  baby. 


88  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

He  began  to  walk  at  one  year  and  to  say  his  first  words 
at  the  same  time,  though  he  was  very  slow  in  acquir- 
ing a  vocabulary.  He  cut  his  first  tooth  at  seven 
months.  He  has  never  been  seriously  ill  and  escaped 
the  usual  children's  diseases  except  whooping  cough 
and  measles,  the  latter  appearing  only  last  summer. 
In  his  immediate  family  he  is  the  third  of  six  chil- 
dren. All  the  others  are  healthy  and  bright;  one  boy 
of  fifteen  graduating  from  the  grammar  school  this 
year.  His  mother  and  father  are  living  and  in  good 
health.  The  grandparents  on  both  sides  of  the  house 
were  normal  and  healthy,  all  of  them  living  to  a  good 
old  age.  There  were  twelve  children  in  the  mother's 
family,  all  of  whom  are  living  and  healthy. 

The  physical  examination  showed  that  Ernest  is 
135  cm.  in  height  and  29.4  kilograms  in  weight;  that 
the  right  shoulder  is  slightly  elevated;  that  there  is  a 
convex  curvature  of  the  spine  to  the  right  in  the  dorsal 
region.  His  head  is  rather  large  for  his  body  with  a 
girth  of  20.8  inches;  biparietal  dimension  of  5.25  inches; 
occipito-frontal  dimension  of  7.25  inches,  and  occipito- 
mental  dimension  of  7.75  inches.  He  has  been  wearing 
glasses  for  about  a  year  and  has  recently  had  his  eyes 
re-examined.  His  hearing  is  good.  The  only  marked 
physical  defects  apparent  were  the  broad  bridge  of  his 
nose,  his  protruding  scapulae,  his  drooping  shoulders  and 
the  spinal  curvature  noted  above.  Some  of  these  symp- 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     89 

toms  it  was  thought  pointed  to  a  nasal  obstruction,  due 
possibly  either  to  a  deflected  septum  or  to  adenoid 
growth,  but  upon  his  being  sent  to  a  nose  and  throat 
specialist  for  examination,  the  nasal  obstruction  was 
considered  so  insignificant  that  an  operation  was  not 
advised  by  the  physician.  On  July  3,  1911,  he  was 
circumcised.  Following  his  examination  and  opera- 
tion, according  to  the  report  of  his  school  principal, 
his  progress  in  school  was  greatly  accelerated  and  he 
was  promoted  to  the  fourth  grade  B  at  the  end  of  the 
school  year. 

In  the  examination  for  mental  capacity  made  upon 
his  first  visit  to  the  Clinic,  it  was  found  that  his  memory 
span  was  only  fair,  being  good  at  first  for  only  three 
colors,  though  after  three  trials  he  succeeded  in  naming 
four.  He  spelled  correctly  such  monosyllables  as 
"cow,"  and  "dog,"  but  failed  on  "horse,"  and  spelled 
"goat,"  g-o-t.  He  answered  correctly  such  problems 
as  5X5=25;  3X3  =  9;  4+3  =  7;  17+8  =  25;  8—5  =  3, 
but  failed  on  17—4;  8X8;  9X8;  7X6;  4X4;  2X4. 
He  worked  the  form  board  rapidly,  with  precision, 
and  without  mistakes.  These  facts,  taken  in  con- 
sideration with  his  clear  family  history  and  the  absence 
of  any  causes  for  permanent  mental  defect  in  his  own 
life,  compelled  the  diagnosis  of  his  case  as  simple 
retardation  probably  due  to  transference  from  a  country 
school  and  to  natural  slowness  aggravated  by  physical 


90  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

defects.  He  will  probably  always  remain  slow  in  his 
acquisition  of  knowledge  though  he  may  go  on  pro- 
gressing indefinitely. 

Ernest  belongs  in  a  home  that  is  "good"  by  defini- 
tion. The  surroundings  are  good,  with  the  exception 
of  the  near-by  car  barn.  The  house  is  a  small,  neat, 
two-story  dwelling,  and  is  well  kept.  His  mother  is  a 
woman  of  rather  unusual  intelligence,  of  a  pleasant, 
calm  temperament.  She  is  interested  in  her  boy's 
development,  and  is  more  than  willing  to  co-operate 
in  his  care  in  any  way  possible.  She  stated  it  as  her 
conviction,  without  seeing  the  fatal  implication, 
that  if  his  "attention  could  only  be  secured  he  would 
be  like  other  children."  Ernest  is  fond  of  tools,  and  at 
home  spends  much  time  making  wagons  and  other 
playthings. 

13.  Samuel  Hartenstein  was  a  bright  eyed,  dark 
complexioned,  Russian  Jewish  lad,  nine  years  of  age, 
when  he  was  first  brought  to  the  Clinic  Apiil  1,  1911, 
by  a  social  worker  of  a  charitable  organization.  His 
backwardness  and  bad  conduct  were  the  causes  of 
his  visit.  He  had  been  in  the  care  of  this  particular 
organization  for  three  years  and  had  received  special 
attention  in  his  lessons.  He  started  to  school  at  the 
age  of  six,  spent  one  year  in  the  first  grade  A,  six  months 
in  first  B,  six  months  in  second  A,  and  six  months  in 
second  B.  He  was  put  in  the  third  grade  A  to  see  if 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     91 

he  could  get  along  with  another  teacher  and  not 
because  his  scholarship  justified  the  advance.  Later, 
however,  because  no  improvement  occurred,  he  was 
demoted  to  second  grade  B,  but  again  placed  in  third 
A  where  he  remained  until  June,  1911. 

This  boy  is  the  only  child  in  the  family.  Significant 
circumstances  of  his  birth  and  babyhood  are  not 
procurable  to  any  extent  on  account  of  the  mother's 
inability  to  speak  English.  According  to  her,  he  was 
born  on  shipboard.  He  had  measles  when  three  years 
old  and  at  that  time  was  very  nervous,  and  his  adenoids 
and  tonsils  were  removed  in  the  fall  of  1910.  Beyond 
the  statement  that  his  father  was  a  Russian  from  whom 
the  mother  ran  away  seven  years  ago,  and  that  he  was 
extremely  nervous,  no  family  history  was  procurable. 

The  boy's  general  appearance  is  not  at  all  unpleasing, 
though  a  profile  view  gives  him  a  decidedly  negroid 
aspect.  His  head  appears  to  be  somewhat  microcepha- 
lic  with  a  girth  of  20  inches,  biparietal  dimension 
5.25  inches;  occipito-frontal  6.75  inches;  occipito- 
mental  7  inches.  His  height  is  125.7  cm.  and  his  weight 
is  27.3  kilograms.  The  vision  of  his  left  eye  appears 
subnormal  with  the  right  slightly  better.  His  soft 
palate  appears  to  have  been  amputated  when  the 
adenoids  and  tonsils  were  removed  in  1910.  His 
teeth  are  fairly  regular,  white  and  clean,  though  the 
upper  teeth  overhang  the  lower  ones. 


92  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

The  examination  for  mental  capacity  agreed  well 
with  the  statements  made  by  his  teachers.  He  could 
not  spell  the  third  grade  work  or  even  the  second 
grade,  nor  could  he  read  in  either  grade,  though  in 
the  first  reader  he  was  able  to  pronounce  words  hesitat- 
ingly with  several  mistakes.  In  arithmetic  his  answers 
showed  that  he  was  not  able  to  visualize.  When 
asked  to  subtract  25  from  40  he  would  answer  25. 
When,  however,  he  wrote  down  the  problem,  the 
answer  was  correct.  He  knew  the  names  of  colors 
and  could  distinguish  colors.  He  placed  the  blocks 
in  the  form  board  correctly  in  the  normal  way  using 
the  left  hand.  On  the  second  trial,  though  he  is 
left-handed,  he  used  his  right  hand  with  the  same 
result.  He  knew  the  names  of  common  objects 
and  their  uses.  His  mentality  was  called  in  question 
by  a  social  worker  upon  the  very  curious  ground 
that  he  would  leave  the  dinner  table  and  sit  on  the 
floor. 

Backward  as  he  appears  to  be  mentally,  his  conduct 
has  been  giving  even  more  trouble.  Like  many  boys 
of  this  class,  conflicting  reports  have  been  current 
concerning  his  mentality  and  conduct.  The  agent 
of  the  charitable  organization  reported  that  he  plays 
truant  from  school,  " shoots  crap,"  and  has  fits  of 
extreme  temper;  and  according  to  another  report, 
he  throws  stones  at  other  children,  both  boys  and 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     93 

girls.  He  not  only  appears  unable  to  do  his  school 
work,  although  he  is  helped,  but  does  not  seem  even 
to  wish  to  make  any  progress. 

Quite  different  are  the  reports  of  the  social  workers 
of  the  Psychological  Clinic,  gathered  from  visits  to 
his  home  and  conversations  with  his  mother  and  the 
neighbors.  According  to  his  mother  his  conduct  is 
good.  In  the  evening  he  plays  with  the  older  boys 
in  the  street,  playing  running  games,  stealing  rides  on 
wagons,  and  cutting  up  the  usual  pranks  of  boys. 
Saturdays  and  Sundays  he  goes  to  the  playground, 
several  of  which  are  located  in  the  neighborhood. 
He  spends  a  great  deal  of  his  time  at  the  Young 
Women's  Union,  where  he  enjoys  a  daily  shower  bath 
in  the  summer.  He  sometimes  goes  to  the  moving  pic- 
ture shows,  and  is  robustly  fond  of  cowboy  and  Indian 
pictures.  The  mother  denies  that  her  boy  ever  plays 
with  the  girls.  Sometimes  he  helps  her  with  her 
business,  and  displays  in  this  a  modicum  at  least  of 
his  race's  proverbial  shrewdness.  At  the  same  time 
she  believes  that  Samuel  has  a  "weak  brain,"  as  she 
expressed  it,  and  in  this  she  agrees  with  the  vague 
estimate  placed  upon  him  by  the  neighbors. 

The  home  is  in  what  might  be  termed  the  "  Yiddish 
quarter".  The  streets  in  this  district  are  lined  with 
dwelling  houses,  the  lower  front  parts  of  which  have 
been  converted  into  stores  and  markets.  In  the 


94  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

particular  street  where  S.  lives,  the  street  is  broad,  but 
the  pavements  are  filled  with  stalls  where  live  chickens 
are  sold. 

The  family,  consisting  of  Samuel  and  his  mother, 
live  in  one  very  small  room,  located  on  the  first  floor 
at  the  back,  and  lighted  by  one  window,  which  is 
kept  open  all  the  time.  Mrs.  H.,  described  as  being 
a  rather  comely  woman,  apparently  about  forty  years 
old  and  dressed  carefully  and  neatly  for  her  class, 
sells  cotton  goods  on  the  street  near  her  house.  On 
the  first  visit  made  to  the  home  she  was  very  friendly 
and  said  she  appreciated  all  that  was  being  done  for 
Samuel  by  every  one.  She  is  bright,  quick,  nervous 
in  appearance,  and  does  not  speak  or  understand  very 
much  English,  although  it  was  possible  to  talk  with 
fair  understanding  about  her  boy,  to  whom  she  is 
devoted,  as  he  is  to  her. 

With  this  record,  and  classified  as  a  high  grade 
mental  defective  capable  of  some  education,  S.  entered 
the  special  class  on  July  5th. 

14.  Abraham  Leschitisky  is  a  boy  now  eight  years 
old,  brought  first  to  the  Clinic  on  July  3,  1909,  by  his 
mother  on  account  of  certain  defects  of  speech.  His 
pedagogical  career,  which  was  greatly  hampered  by 
this  speech  defect,  began  on  December  15,  1909,  in 
the  kindergarten  of  a  neighborhood  house  in  the  lower 
part  of  the  city  where  he  lives.  During  the  winter 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     95 

of  1910  and  1911  he  attended  a  public  school,  but  was 
reported  as  backward. 

His  personal  history  is  not  very  promising.  At  one 
and  a  half  years  of  age  he  had  meningitis,  followed  at 
five  and  a  half  years  by  diphtheria,  which  confined  him 
to  the  Municipal  Hospital  for  three  weeks.  Before 
the  meningitis  he  had  begun  to  talk,  but  afterwards 
failed  to  make  much  progress  and  still  continues  to 
enunciate  with  an  infantile  stammer.  He  is  able  to 
sound  most  of  the  consonants,  and  to  pronounce  "a," 
"e,"  "i,"  "o"  but  says  "oo"  for  "u".  In  the  immediate 
family  there  are  four  other  children  all  of  whom  are 
apparently  normal  though  slow  to  speak.  The  father 
and  mother  are  both  Russians.  They  are  both  in  good 
health;  and  nothing  abnormal  could  be  found  in  the 
family  history  of  either  parent. 

In  personal  appearance  the  child  is  slightly  built 
and  undernourished,  with  a  head  box-shaped  and 
suggesting  rickets.  His  shoulders  droop,  the  left 
shoulder  is  higher  than  the  right  and  his  footstep  is 
dragging  and  listless.  His  whole  manner  is  one  of 
fatigue  and  lack  of  interest.  On  July  7th  his  height 
was  115  cm.,  his  weight  21  kg.;  upper  chest  expan- 
sion 1.5  inches,  lower  chest  expansion  2.5  inches;  girth 
of  his  head  was  only  19  inches,  with  a  biparietal  dimen- 
sion of  5.25  inches;  occipito-frontal  6.5  inches,  and 
occipito-mental  7.5  inches.  His  skin  is  clear,  his 


96  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

eyes  are  large,  the  vision  normal.  His  ears  are  large 
and  stand  out  well  from  his  head  and  his  hearing  is 
dull.  His  nose  and  throat,  teeth  and  chest  are  normal. 

The  mental  capacity  of  this  boy  on  account  of  his 
Russian  surroundings,  his  partial  deafness  and  general 
poor  physical  condition,  is  very  hard  to  determine. 
After  he  started  going  to  the  kindergarten  his  teacher 
reported  that  he  was  doing  remarkably  well,  but  upon 
his  entrance  to  the  public  school  the  report  was  the 
very  opposite  of  this.  He  learned  to  copy  things,  but 
did  not  learn  to  read,  though  the  teacher  thought  he 
could  improve  with  individual  attention.  On  Novem- 
ber 21, 1910,  he  was  sent  to  a  country  home  at  Gwynedd, 
where  he  remained  four  weeks  and  where  his  physical 
condition  was  greatly  improved.  From  this  home 
came  the  report  that  he  chattered  a  great  deal.  On 
February  17,  1911,  he  was  entered  in  the  special  speech 
class  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  On  July  5th 
he  entered  the  special  class. 

On  July  25,  1911,  a  Clinic  visitor  found  Abraham's 
family  housed  in  a  small  two-story  dwelling  on  a  narrow 
residence  street  in  a  poor  quarter  of  the  city.  The 
house  was  clean  and  fresh,  with  a  small  front  room 
used  as  a  parlor,  very  neatly  furnished,  but  rather 
crowded.  The  kitchen  was  clean,  with  door  and 
window  opening  into  a  yard  which  presented  a  most 
attractive  appearance  from  the  front  of  the  house, 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     97 

with  morning-glories  climbing  up  the  strings  stretched 
from  fence  to  kitchen,  under  which  the  family  table 
was  set  and  where  the  meals  were  sometimes  eaten. 
A  bench  and  a  swing  in  the  yard  attested  the  thought- 
fulness  of  these  people  for  their  children. 

Abraham  eats  very  little  at  any  time,  drinking  a 
cup  of  coffee  and  perhaps  eating  a  piece  of  bread  for 
breakfast,  getting  lunch  at  the  special  class,  and  going 
to  bed  after  a  light  supper.  He  and  his  brother  sleep 
in  separate  beds  in  the  same  room  supplied  with  plenty 
of  fresh  air,  but  he  does  not  sleep  very  well  on  account 
of  dry  nasal  mucous  membrane,  for  which  he  has  had 
some  treatment  at  the  University  Hospital. 

15.  Clara  Sampson  was  a  short,  old-fashioned 
looking  little  girl  of  eight  years  when  her  father  first 
brought  her  to  the  Clinic  on  April  29,  1911,  on  account 
of  backwardness  in  school.  She  had  been  entered 
in  a  kindergarten  and  had  been  attending  about  a 
year  without  making  any  noticeable  progress.  In  the 
minds  of  her  parents  there  appeared  to  be  no  cause 
for  this  backwardness.  Her  birth  was  normal  and 
at  full  time,  and  though  she  was  small  at  birth  she 
began  growing  naturally  if  slowly.  At  fifteen  months 
of  age  she  began  to  walk,  but  did  not  talk  until  very 
late,  and  at  the  time  of  her  visit  was  still  very  backward 
in  this  respect.  The  first  time  the  parents  noticed 
any  difference  between  her  and  the  other  children  was 


08  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

after  an  attack  of  whooping  cough  when  she  was 
about  one  year  old.  Although  since  that  time  she 
has  had  no  serious  illnesses,  yet  she  has  been  steadily 
falling  behind  her  brothers  and  sisters  in  normal 
progress. 

In  the  immediate  family  there  are  four  children, 
of  whom  Clara  is  the  second  child.  All  the  other 
three  are  normal  in  every  way.  The  father  is  a  farmer, 
strong  and  healthy,  who  comes  from  a  very  long-lived 
family.  The  father's  grandfather,  however,  died  from 
tuberculosis.  The  mother  of  the  child  is  living,  but 
has  had  frequent  fainting  spells  brought  on  by  over- 
excitement,  though  otherwise  she  appears  to  be  a 
healthy  woman.  Tuberculosis  also  appeared  in  one 
of  her  sisters  and  her  sister's  daughter,  both  of  whom 
died  of  this  disease. 

Physically,  the  child  appears  well  formed,  with  no 
special  stigmata  of  ears  or  face,  although  she  presented 
at  her  first  visit  to  the  Clinic  a  slight  appearance  of 
the  adenoid  physiognomy  with  the  depressed  nose, 
the  high  palate,  the  tonsils  enlarged  and  very  much 
inflamed  and  the  mouth  occasionally  held  open.  Her 
teeth  were  badly  decayed  and  a  catarrhal  condition 
was  indicated.  The  skin  was  dry  with  dark  pigmenta- 
tion present  and  the  hands  slightly  cyanosed.  The 
hearing  appeared  to  be  very  much  diminished.  Her 
head  presented  no  abnormalities  except  a  noticeable 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.     99 

microcephaly.  The  skull  girth  is  19  inches;  biparietal 
dimension  5  inches;  occipito-frontal  7  inches;  occipi- 
to-mental  7.5  inches.  As  already  noted  the  child  is 
somewhat  short,  her  height  being  120.5  cm.  and  her 
weight  23.7  kilograms.  The  grip  of  her  right  hand  is 
10  kilos  and  of  her  left  8;  haemoglobin  test  on  July  3d, 
70. 

When  given  the  form  board  to  work,  she  placed  the 
blocks  correctly  and  in  the  normal  way.  At  first  she 
did  not  seem  to  know  her  colors,  but  after  a  little 
instruction  learned  red,  green,  yellow  and  blue.  Her 
father  reported  that  the  child  seemed  very  bright  in 
some  things  and  could  do  them  well.  For  example, 
she  washes  dishes,  plays  jacks  with  the  other  children 
and  engages  in  children's  games  without  difficulty. 
She  is  very  bashful  and  sensitive  and  at  times  exhibits 
a  marked  temper.  She  is  able  to  dress  herself  com- 
pletely except  the  buttoning  of  buttons  in  the  back 
of  her  dress.  She  is  able  to  eat  at  the  table  and  in 
every  way  care  for  herself.  From  April  29,  1911,  to 
June  28,  1911,  she  was  in  the  care  of  the  Woman's 
Hospital  of  Philadelphia.  During  that  time  her  nose 
.and  throat  were  treated  and  adenoids  removed;  her 
eyes  were  refracted  and  glasses  fitted;  four  teeth  and 
some  roots  were  extracted,  and  local  treatment  admin- 
istered for  gonorrheal  vaginitis,  which  she  had  con- 
tracted, probably  at  school,  unknown  to  her  parents. 


100  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

From  the  hospital  she  went  to  a  boarding  home  and 
was  admitted  to  the  special  class  on  July  5th. 

16.  Robert  Schmidt  was  brought  to  the  Clinic  on 
July  22,  1910,  by  his  mother  and  by  his  teacher  in  the 
public  school  on  account  of  his  backwardness  and 
speech  defect. 

The  personal  history  of  the  child  showed  that  his 
birth  had  been  instrumental,  that  he  weighed  thirteen 
pounds  when  bora,  and  was  nursed  by  his  mother. 
He  began  to  walk  at  fourteen  months  of  age,  but  did 
not  talk  until  two  years  and  never  has  talked  plainly. 
His  first  teeth  did  not  appear  until  he  was  a  little  over 
a  year  old.  During  his  babyhood,  when  about  a  year 
old,  he  suffered  from  membranous  croup,  which  was 
followed  at  the  age  of  four  by  a  slight  attack  of  scarlet 
fever.  His  speech  defect  called  attention  to  his  throat, 
and  at  five,  his  tonsils  were  removed,  with  almost 
immediate  improvement  in  his  speech.  No  other 
illnesses  are  recorded,  and  only  one  serious  accident, 
which  occurred  at  the  age  of  eight,  when  he  was  run 
down  by  an  automobile. 

The  family  history  revealed  no  abnormalities  on 
either  side  of  the  house.  His  mother,  though  under  a 
great  deal  of  nervous  strain  and  worriment,  was  in 
good  physical  health  just  before  he  was  bom.  His 
father  is  living,  but  has  suffered  with  St.  Vitus'  dance 
from  his  birth,  though  it  did  not  seem  to  affect  him 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.    101 

mentally,  for  his  progress  in  school  is  reported  as  good. 
The  father's  mother  and  father  both  died  of  acute 
diseases,  and  his  brothers  and  sisters  are  normal.  The 
mother's  parents  are  both  living  and  well,  and  the 
mother's  brothers  and  sisters  are  normal.  With  the 
exception,  then,  of  the  father's  neurotic  condition,  no 
bad  family  history  was  discovered.  Robert's  brother, 
who  is  younger  than  himself,  is  doing  well  in  his  school 
work  and  giving  no  cause  of  uneasiness. 

The  mental  examination,  beginning  with  the  educa- 
tional history,  showed  that  R.  had  started  school  when 
he  was  six  years  old,  had  attended  regularly  and,  at  the 
time  of  his  examination,  was  in  the  low  third  grade. 
Pedagogically,  he  was  retarded  about  one  year.  His 
teacher  reports  that  he  is  poor  in  spelling;  that  at 
first  he  did  long  division  well,  but  was  not  able  to  do 
it  later  on.  The  mental  tests  corroborated  his  poor 
spelling.  Such  elementary  words  as  "horse"  he  mis- 
spelled, giving  the  letters  as  h-o-s-e.  However,  he 
was  able  to  read  well  in  the  third  reader,  though  his 
enunciation  was  very  poor.  He  could  recollect  easily 
what  he  read,  so  that  he  succeeded  in  acquiring  the 
meaning  from  a  printed  page.  His  visual  memory 
span  was  good  for  three  colors,  although  he  failed  on 
four.  His  auditory  memory  span  was  good  for  six 
colors.  In  such  elementary  matters  as  the  names  of 
colors  and  distinction  of  colors,  the  form  board,  work 


102  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

with  tools,  play,  and  running  errands,  he  was  as  good 
as  any  other  boy  of  his  own  age.  He  belonged  to  a 
baseball  team  and  played  center  field  in  the  game. 
He  was  reported  to  be  affectionate,  obedient,  good- 
natured,  fond  of  pets,  and  exceedingly  anxious  to  learn, 
though  he  grew  excited  and  nervous  whenever  he 
undertook  a  hard  mental  task. 

His  height  is  139.7  cm.  and  his  weight  is  31.8  kilo- 
grams. His  intelligent,  pleasant  face  is  wreathed  in 
smiles  much  of  the  time.  His  hair  is  brown  and  rather 
thin,  and  his  skull  dolichocephalic,  with  rather  a  broad 
and  high  forehead  sloping  backward.  His  nutrition 
appears  to  be  good,  though  his  circulation  is  poor, 
as  indicated  by  slight  cyanosis  of  the  hands.  His 
eye  co-ordination, — like  his  general  muscular  co- 
ordination,— is  good,  though  there  is  a  slight  asymmetry 
present  in  that  the  right  eye  is  a  little  smaller  than  the 
left.  Vision  is  defective.  His  ears  present  no  abnormali- 
ties, though  the  lobes  are  not  as  fully  developed  as  they 
might  be.  He  hears  a  little  less  on  the  right  side  than 
on  the  left.  His  nose  is  broad  at  the  bridge  with  large 
nostrils  and  a  slight  deviation  of  the  septum  toward 
the  left,  the  upper  lip  is  somewhat  shortened,  which 
tends  to  keep  his  mouth  open.  His  tongue  has  been 
operated  upon.  The  teeth  are  regular  and  far  apart 
and  some  are  decayed.  His  chest  is  full  and  he  holds 
himself  well.  His  heart  beats  strongly. 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.    103 

After  the  examination  at  the  Clinic  he  was  entered 
in  the  speech  class,  October  29, 1910,  where  he  remained 
until  May  12,  1911.  Here  he  received  training  weekly 
for  his  articulation.  He  did  unusually  well  in  building 
up  sounds  like  "st"  in  "still"  and  "ish"  in  "wish," 
though  he  had  special  difficulty  with  "post".  On  the 
whole,  he  made  improvement  and  hope  was  felt  that 
continued  training  of  the  same  kind  would  finally 
overcome  his  speech  defect  entirely.  On  May  19th 
arrangements  were  made  to  enter  him  in  the  special 
class  of  the  Summer  School,  where  he  came  on  July  5th 
and  remained  until  the  end. 

After  his  examination  he  was  diagnosed  as  normal 
mentally,  but  retarded  in  his  pedagogical  progress  on 
account  of  his  speech  defect. 

Robert  is  the  only  child  in  a  good  home,  the  other 
son  having  been  adopted  by  relatives.  The  boy  sleeps 
alone;  his  bedtime  is  eight  o'clock,  but  he  very  often 
stays  out  until  later.  He  gets  up  at  six  o'clock,  but 
says  that  he  is  able  to  get  up  at  five.  His  mother  says 
he  is  a  sound  sleeper  and  always  happy. 

There  is  a  public  park  near  by,  and  Robert  plays 
there  a  great  deal  with  the  other  boys  of  his  own  age. 
There  are  two  unfavorable  influences  in  his  environ- 
ment. The  first  and  less  objectionable  are  the  moving 
picture  shows,  to  which  he  goes  two  or  three  times  a 
week.  The  mother  does  not  disapprove  of  this;  on 


104  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

the  contrary,  she  thinks  it  is  good  for  him,  but  this 
means  that  he  is  often  up  until  ten  or  half  past  ten. 
It  also  turns  his  mind  to  fighting  Indians  in  the  West, 
and  going  to  war,  and  killing  people.  The  second  bad 
influence  is  a  hotel  two  doors  away  from  his  home. 
Here  a  very  rough  crowd  of  boys  gather  to  loaf,  talk, 
and  play  with  cigarette  cards.  The  kind  of  talk  which 
goes  on  in  such  a  crowd  is  anything  but  good.  R. 
sometimes  spends  hours  at  a  time  playing  with  the 
cigarette  cards,  and  cannot  be  persuaded  to  put  them 
away. 

17.  George  Singer,  aged  eight  years,  was  first 
brought  to  the  Clinic  on  May  4,  1911,  on  account  of 
uncontrollable  outbreaks  of  temper,  according  to  the 
statement  of  his  mother,  who  accompanied  him.  The 
uncontrollable  outbreaks  of  temper,  however,  were 
merely  symptoms  of  a  deeper  and  more  serious  mental 
defect.  This  did  not  exhibit  itself  in  the  usual  form  of 
backwardness,  for  this  boy  is  considered  bright.  He 
started  going  to  kindergarten  in  a  country  town  when 
about  six  years  of  age.  At  the  time  of  his  examination 
he  was  attending  a  city  public  school  and  was  in  the 
third  grade  A,  being  about  six  months  in  advance  of 
his  years.  At  the  time  of  his  entrance  in  the  urban 
school,  he  had  been  getting  along  splendidly,  but  the 
mother  thought  that  she  saw  a  change  come  over  him 
in  the  two  years  preceding  his  examination  at  the 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.    105 

Clinic.  Owing  to  his  nervous  condition  he  had  been 
kept  from  school  for  about  three  or  four  months  on 
the  advice  of  a  physician.  When  he  returned  his 
conduct  had  so  far  retrograded  that  he  was  sent  home 
several  times  by  the  principal  with  notes  stating  that 
his  lessons  and  conduct  were  both  unsatisfactory. 

His  mother  reported  that  he  was  exceedingly  bright 
until  about  two  years  of  age,  when  she  saw  a  slight 
change.  He  walked  at  the  age  of  one  year  and  talked 
at  the  same  time.  At  the  age  of  two  he  was  talking 
so  well  that  his  volubility  was  remarked  and  he  was 
considered  much  more  advanced  in  this  respect  than 
the  other  children.  He  had  been  born  naturally,  at 
full  time,  and  was  a  large,  fat  baby.  He  is  o'ne  child 
among  six,  all  of  his  brothers  and  sisters  being  normal 
mentally.  One  brother  is  decidedly  tuberculous. 

The  mother,  who  is  a  confirmed  invalid  with  a 
tuberculous  tendency,  was  not  well  before  his  birth. 
She  herself  is  nervous  and  belongs  to  a  neurotic  family, 
with  one  sister  reported  as  being  especially  nervous. 
Her  father  died  of  pneumonia  or  consumption  of  the 
throat,  and  her  mother  died  of  heart  disease,  from 
which  she  suffered  for  a  long  time. 

The  father  is  reported  as  being  healthy  and  belonging 
to  a  family  of  eight  children,  all  of  whom  were  healthy, 
and  his  parents  lived  to  a  good  old  age. 

In  general  appearance  the  boy  is  slight  in  build  and 


106  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

thin,  active  in  all  of  his  movements,  constantly  in 
motion  and  exhibiting  the  neurotic  appearance  of  a 
precocious  child  with  an  exceedingly  high  estimate  of 
himself.  His  head  is  rather  large  for  his  body,  strik- 
ingly lengthened  toward  the  occipito-parietal  junction, 
with  a  girth  of  20.25  inches;  biparietal  dimension  5 
inches;  occipito-frontal  7.1;  occipito-mental  8.7 
inches.  His  height  is  132.2  cm.  and  his  weight  is  21 
kilograms.  His  eyes  and  ears  present  no  special 
stigmata  and  are  quite  normal.  The  roof  of  his  mouth 
is  rather  high.  His  skin  is  brown  and  his  mother 
reports  that  sometimes  it  turns  a  greenish-yellow. 
His  hands  are  moist  and  infantile  in  shape.  Both  the 
upper  chest  expansion  and  the  lower  chest  expansion 
are  two  inches  in  respiration.  The  grip  of  his  right 
hand  is  13  kilos,  and  the  left  14;  the  haemoglobin  test 
on  July  10th  was  65. 

At  the  mental  examination  he  showed  that  he  could 
do  all  the  ordinary  school  work  like  reading,  writing 
and  arithmetic  of  the  third  grade  A.  The  difficulty 
has  never  been  great  with  his  mental  progress,  but 
always  with  his  conduct.  He  is  very  talkative  and 
imaginative  and  told  the  examiner  that  he  wanted  to 
go  to  Africa.  He  tells  stories  which  are  manifestly 
untrue,  asserting  for  instance  that  the  teachers  have 
cowhide  whips  in  school  with  which  they  whip  the 
children.  His  erratic  mentality  was  shown  by  the 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.    107 

fact  that  on  the  day  of  the  examination  he  knew  the 
multiplication  tables  to  5  only,  while  at  other  times 
he  knew  them  all.  At  one  time  he  could  draw  well 
and  spent  hours  at  this  occupation,  but  has  given  it 
up  for  no  apparent  reason. 

About  two  years  previous  to  the  examination  he 
woke  one  night  with  a  screaming  spell  which  his  father 
said  was  temper.  He  grasped  convulsively  at  the  bed 
clothes  and  continued  to  scream  until  overcome  with 
a  nervous  chill.  The  mother  said,  however,  that  on 
the  previous  night,  May  3,  1911,  he  had  had  several 
chills  of  the  same  nature.  Following  that  attack  he 
exhibited  a  marked  change  in  his  behavior.  Some- 
times he  will  obey,  but  sometimes  he  cannot  be  com- 
pelled by  punishment  or  by  the  offer  of  any  reward 
to  do  what  he  is  asked.  His  mother  reported  that  on 
the  Saturday  before  his  visit  to  the  Clinic  it  required 
a  full  grown  boy,  a  sister  and  a  woman  to  hold  him  to 
the  floor  while  in  a  spasm  of  extreme  anger,  in  which 
he  kicked,  bit,  scratched,  and  finally  frothed  at  the 
mouth.  Some  of  his  acts  are  entirely  senseless,  like 
throwing  grass  upon  the  supper  table  just  before  the 
meal.  In  his  paroxysms  of  anger  he  will  break  any- 
thing in  the  house  or  strike  anyone.  He  is  ordinarily 
kind  to  the  other  children,  but  has  begun  to  persecute 
them.  He  tore  up  into  little  bits  the  zoological  garden 
tickets  belonging  to  his  brother  and  would  have  smashed 


108  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

a  vase  at  the  same  time  had  his  mother  not  rescued  it. 
He  does  not  regularly  lie  or  steal,  but  admitted  that  he 
took  some  rolls  from  a  doorstep  at  one  time  and  hid 
them  in  the  hall  chest,  later  giving  them  to  some 
children.  When  angry  he  uses  language  of  extreme 
vileness.  As  a  corrective  for  these  fits  of  temper  he 
has  been  whipped,  penned  up,  and  chained,  or  taken 
to  various  places  of  amusement  and  things  bought  for 
him,  but  every  attempt  whether  by  kindness  or  harsh- 
ness has  failed. 

At  the  form  board  he  performed  the  operation 
successfully  in  thirty  seconds  the  first  time,  twenty- 
five  seconds  the  second  time,  and  twelve  seconds  the 
third  time.  His  case  was  diagnosed  as  moral  delin- 
quency with  maniacal  outbreaks.  He  was  recommended 
for  examination  at  the  nose  and  throat  clinic.  On 
May  8,  1911,  arrangements  were  made  to  send  him  to 
the  Mary  Drexel  Home  to  remove  adenoids  and  tonsils 
and  for  circumcision.  On  June  27th  a  report  was 
received  that  these  operations  had  been  performed, 
and  since  then  his  mother  thinks  he  has  slightly 
improved. 

According  to  the  report  of  the  social  worker  on  July 
3d,  part  of  his  conduct  is  due  to  the  continual  vacilla- 
tion and  weakness  of  his  mother.  She  would  command 
him  to  do  something  and  threaten  him  with  punish- 
ment if  he  did  not  obey  her.  Then  while  he  proceeded 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.    109 

to  carry  out  exactly  what  she  wished  him  to  do,  she 
would  sit  helplessly  by  saying,  "  Isn't  it  terrible? 
This  is  the  way  it  is  all  the  time."  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances obedience  is  hardly  to  be  expected  from  a 
boy  of  this  type. 

George  comes  from  a  home  which  cannot  be  placed 
in  any  of  the  three  classes  mentioned  above.  Econ- 
omically the  home  is  good,  but  the  mother  is  a  nervous 
invalid,  worn  out  by  the  constant  care  of  a  large  number 
of  children  in  the  house.  Her  lack  of  control  over  G. 
was  evident  at  the  first  visit  made  to  the  Clinic,  and 
subsequent  visits  to  the  home  have  .shown  it  even 
more  clearly.  The  father  is  too  much  occupied  with 
his  work  to  give  the  child  any  attention  except  occa- 
sional beatings.  Added  to  the  disorganized  condition  of 
the  home,  owing  to  the  mother's  extreme  nervousness 
and  the  absence  of  the  father,  the  surroundings  are 
bad.  There  is  a  freight  yard  close  by,  where  the  boys 
of  the  neighborhood  spend  a  great  deal  of  time  in  and 
about  the  cars,  and  also  several  stables  where  ice 
wagons  are  kept,  starting  out  early  in  the  morning  and 
making  sleep  impossible  to  any  but  people  with  very 
strong  nerves.  On  this  account  G.  was  removed  from 
his  home  and  placed  with  one  of  the  Clinic  caretakers. 
It  was  found  to  be  impossible  to  do  anything  with  him 
mentally  or  morally  until  his  physical  condition  could 
first  be  so  built  up  that  he  would  respond  normally 


110  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

to  ordinary  stimuli,  and  until  he  had  recovered  from 
the  irritating  effect  of  the  constant  nagging  of  his 
mother  and  the  other  children  at  home. 

18.  Oswald  Zug,  now  eleven  years  old,  is  a  pathetic 
little  figure  of  a  boy  with  a  long  history  of  suffering 
and  wandering  in  search  of  a  home.  He  began  life 
as  a  foundling,  kept  in  a  county  poorhouse  in  the  central 
part  of  Pennsylvania,  lodged  with  the  lowest  class  of 
paupers.  Efforts  were  made  to  place  him  perman- 
ently in  some  private  home,  but  no  one  cared  to  be 
burdened  with  a  child  so  frail  and  suffering  from  the 
effects  of  a  serious  disease. 

Eventually  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Children's  Aid  Society,  who  hoped  to  find  some 
medical  relief  for  his  congenital  affliction.  He  was 
examined  by  several  specialists,  among  them  Drs. 
White,  Fetterolf,  Burr,  and  Drayton  of  the  Ortho- 
pedic Hospital,  who  made  a  diagnosis  of  congenital 
cerehro-spinal  syphilis,  and  by  Dr.  Frazier,  by  whom 
the  Society  was  advised  to  bring  him  to  the  Psychologi- 
cal Clinic  for  his  mental  retardation  which  manifested 
itself  chiefly  in  his  inability  to  talk.  The  medical 
treatment  has  been  carried  out  under  the  direction  of 
Dr.  Burr  and  Dr.  Drayton,  who  have  taken  a  per- 
sonal interest  in  the  case  which  has  greatly  assisted 
in  the  boy's  advancement. 

On  January  9,  1911,  Oswald  made  his  first  appear- 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.    Ill 

ance  at  the  Clinic,  where  his  family  and  personal  history 
were  investigated.  This  boy  was  born  naturally,  at  full 
time,  and  suckled  immediately,  but  was  a  cross  baby 
and  cried  much  when  awake.  He  cut  his  first  tooth 
at  nine  months,  but  was  not  able  to  sit  up  until  one  and 
a  half  years  of  age  and  did  not  walk  until  he  was 
four  years  old.  On  account  of  his  tongue-paralysis 
he  has  never  been  able  to  talk  plainly  or  connectedly, 
but  utters  sounds  which  strangers  find  impossible  to 
understand.  Nothing  could  be  learned  concerning  his 
pedagogical  history  except  that  he  had  been  at  the  Penn- 
sylvania Institute  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  at  Mt. 
Airy,  Philadelphia,  for  several  months,  from  which 
Institution  he  was  discharged  on  account  of  having 
good  hearing. 

The  reports  concerning  his  early  life  and  family  history 
are  comparatively  meager.  It  is  known  that  his  father, 
who  was  a  coal  miner,  is  dead,  but  nothing  is  known 
of  his  mother's  whereabouts.  It  is  reported  that 
the  child  resembles  his  mother,  who  was  twenty  years 
old  at  his  birth,  and  not  in  good  health  just  before  he 
was  born,  though  she  had  to  work  up  until  nearly 
the  time  of  her  delivery.  Her  father  is  living  at  the 
age  of  sixty-four  and  has  the  ordinary  health  of  a  man 
of  his  age.  Her  mother  died  at  the  age  of  forty-eight, 
having  given  birth  to  eleven  children,  three  of  whom 
are  living.  All  of  her  brothers  and  sisters  are  normal. 


112  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

Oswald's  father  died  of  typhoid  fever,  being  survived 
by  his  father  who,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four  is  in 
apparently  good  health,  but  nothing  is  reported  of  his 
mother.  A  vague  report  was  received  that  tubercu- 
losis existed  in  the  family,  but  in  what  branch  or  in 
what  degree  is  not  known. 

The  general  appearance  of  Oswald,  though  it  has 
improved  since  his  first  coming  to  the  Clinic,  immedi- 
ately touches  the  sympathies  of  those  who  see  him. 
He  has  the  posture  and  gait  of  an  old  man  joined  with 
the  stature  and  physiognomy  of  a  child.  He  walks 
somewhat  uncertainly,  as  though  partly  feeling  his  way, 
with  his  hands  held  half  outstretched  ready  to  seize 
some  object  for  support  in  case  he  should  stumble. 
This  position  of  the  hands  at  first  gives  one  the  im- 
pression that  the  boy  is  suffering  from  spastic  paralysis. 
His  mouth  is  usually  held  open  in  the  position  sometimes 
seen  in  one  who  is  trying  to  perform  a  difficult  manual 
feat,  like  attempting  for  the  first  time  to  cut  with 
scissors.  His  eyes  roll  like  those  of  a  person  balancing 
himself  and  unable  to  turn  his  head.  Both  of  these 
conditions, — his  open  mouth  and  rolling  eyes, — are 
accentuated  when  he  makes  his  pitiful  and  earnest 
endeavors  to  talk.  This  inability  appears  to  be  the 
most  overt  sign  of  his  retardation,  though  he  is  equally 
retarded  in  other  mental  and  manual  attainments. 

The  physical  examination  made  at  the  time  of  his 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.    113 

first  visit  to  the  Clinic  corroborated  the  first  impres- 
sion one  receives  of  his  being  under  height  and  under 
weight.  On  January  5,  1911,  he  weighed  21.3  kg.,  but 
by  July  5,  1911,  he  had  gained  1.7  kg.,  or  about  three 
pounds.  On  the  latter  date  the  grip  of  his  right  hand 
was  10  kg.  and  of  the  left  8  kg.;  his  upper  chest  expan- 
sion was  1.5  inches  and  the  lower  chest  expansion  1.75 
inches,  girth  of  head  19  inches,  biparietal  diameter  5 
inches;  occipito-f rental  6.75  inches;  occipito-mental 
7.75  inches. 

The  general  disposition  of  Oswald  is  good.  He  has 
no  bad  habits;  he  is  good-natured,  docile,  kind  and 
affectionate.  At  times  when  he  is  down-hearted  he 
indicates  that  he  wishes  he  were  with  his  mother  who 
is  dead,  but  whom  he  remembers  well.  At  first  among 
strangers  he  seems  fearful,  but  when  his  shyness  wears 
off  and  his  confidence  is  gained  he  responds  well  to 
gentle  treatment. 

On  account  of  Oswald's  inability  to  express  himself 
in  words  it  was  difficult,  and  still  remains  difficult, 
to  determine  the  exact  degree  of  his  mentality.  Many 
mental  tests,  like  Binet  and  other  pedagogical  tests, 
depend  upon  vocal  expression,  and  could  not,  therefore, 
be  applied  to  him.  However,  his  mental  capacity  is 
greater  than  would  at  first  appear  from  his  looks  or 
actions.  He  could  hear  and  understand  what  was  said 
to  him,  could  make  himself  understood  by  signs  and  the 


114  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

rudiments  of  writing,  and  excepting  for  the  effects 
of  the  specific  congenital  disease,  seemed  to  be  normal. 
This  opinion  has  since  been  strengthened  by  the  exper- 
ience of  those  who  have  had  him  under  observation  and 
to  whom  he  has  revealed  much  of  his  past, — the  occu- 
pation of  his  foster  father,  a  painter  who  fell  from  a 
ladder  and  was  killed,  and  his  mother's  death,  the 
mode  of  which  cannot  be  made  out,  for  Oswald  acts 
all  these  events  in  pantomine. 

Since  his  most  significant  defect  was  his  mutism,  due 
to  partial  paralysis  the  result  of  his  disease,  his  chief 
training  has  been  all  along  devoted  to  teaching  him 
to  talk.  On  February  20,  1911,  his  first  speech  lesson 
was  begun  with  simple  exercises  for  developing  the 
upper  lip  muscles.  In  spite  of  an  irritating  cough  the 
speech  training  was  continued,  with  two  to  four  lessons 
weekly  until  May  2,  1911,  during  which  time  he 
showed  steady  though  slow  improvement.  Beginning 
April  4th  he  was  given  regular  gymnastic  training 
on  Tuesdays  and  Thursdays  of  each  week,  which  he 
continued  more  or  less  regularly  until  July  5th.  His 
advance  at  the  gymnasium  during  this  period  and  at 
a  later  time  was  greatly  interfered  with  by  his  physical 
condition,  which  varies  from  extreme  lassitude  and 
weakness  to  a  fair  degree  of  strength,  dependent  some- 
what upon  the  medical  treatment  he  is  receiving  for  the 
specific  disease  from  which  he  suffers. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION. 
BY  ELIZABETH  E.  FARRELL. 

The  organization  of  the  special  class  will  be  considered 
under  two  heads, — the  organization  done  before  July 
5,  1911,  and  that  which  was  necessary  after  the  children 
were  present.  In  preparation  for  the  real  work,  an 
organization  on  paper  was  perfected.  This  had  to  do 
with  a  scheme  of  work  which  seemed  possible  of 
accomplishment;  the  grouping  of  the  children  accord- 
ing to  their  ability  as  indicated  in  the  reports  submitted; 
the  statement  of  the  pedagogical  problem  presented 
by  each  child;  the  laying  out  of  a  time  schedule  or 
program  of  exercises;  the  selection  of  teachers,  and  the 
assignment  of  work  to  them.  The  second  phase  of 
the  organization  concerns  those  factors  of  school 
environment  which  bear  particularly  on  the  physical 
well-being  of  the  children.  These  are  the  adjustment 
of  furniture,  assignment  of  seats,  desks,  and  wardrobe 
room,  and  similar  matters. 

The  paper  organization  was  the  result  of  a  series 
of  conferences  between  Miss  Walsh,  Mrs.  Pfeiffer, 
and  myself.  The  problems  of  this  phase  of  the 
work  naturally  center  around  a  plan  of  campaign. 

(115) 


116  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

To  suggest  some  of  these  problems  will  be  sufficient. 
The  attendance  of  children  upon  summer  schools  is 
rarely  if  ever  satisfactory.  The  reasons  for  this  are 
obvious, — the  holiday  spirit  is  in  the  air;  the  weather 
is  prohibitive  of  persistent  effort;  for  backward 
children  school  is  not  a  synonym  for  pleasure,  happi- 
ness, success.  To  overcome  these  difficulties  it  was 
necessary  to  put  forward  a  most  attractive  place.  The 
school  now  more  than  ever  must  compete  with  its 
only  real  competitor,  the  street.  To  fail  would  be  to 
acknowledge  that  the  fortuitous  education  of  the  street 
must  always  and  ever  count  for  more  in  a  child's  life 
than  the  well-ordered,  logical,  and  psychologically 
adapted  regimen  of  formal  education.  The  problem 
thus  became  analytic.  What  is  the  attraction  of  the 
streets?  First  and  foremost  is  the  constantly  changing 
activity.  The  boy  is  never  bored  by  his  street  life. 
When  one  thing  ceases  to  attract,  it  is  pushed  aside 
and  he  attends  to  the  new  and  the  interesting.  The 
activity  goes  from  hanging  on  wagons,  with  its  con- 
sequent danger  and  interest,  to  listening  to  the  street 
musicians  with  their  bright,  catchy  tunes.  Here  then 
was  the  first  principle  upon  which  the  summer  school 
was  to  be  built.  It  must  be  at  least  as  attractive  as 
the  street  in  the  variety  of  activity  offered. 

Upon  further  analysis  it  was  determined  to  make  the 
school  a  place  for  backward  children  where  pleasure, 


THE  EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION.   117 

happiness,  and  success  were  the  dominant  notes  in  its 
daily  symphony  of  effort.  This  necessitated  a  strong 
appeal  to  each  child,  which  should  not  be  below  and 
certainly  not  above  the  psychological  level  at  which 
he  lives.  The  question  was  again,  what  are  the  interests 
of  the  street?  Concretely  they  are  the  ash  cans,  the 
garbage  barrels,  the  policeman,  the  thousand  and  one 
dangers  which  grown  men  and  women  have  forgotten, 
but  which  have  a  positive  contribution  to  make  to  the 
development  of  each  individual.  What  the  school 
must  do  is  to  utilize  the  interest  which  leads  boys  and 
girls  to  investigate  cans  and  garbage  barrels;  it  must 
make  available  the  interest  of  the  street  dangers, — 
not  some  of  those  dangers,  but  all  that  any  particular 
child  might  need.  In  a  word,  the  chief  principle  of  this 
summer  school  should  be, — the  child  must  use  any  kind 
of  power,  all  the  power  he  has.  He  must  not  be  saved 
from  his  instinctive  life.  That  life  must  be  uncon- 
sciously directed  in  order  that  in  a  very  real  way  he  may 
some  day  reap  the  fruits  of  the  spirit.  Love,  joy,  peace, 
gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  temperance, — these  things, 
though  so  desirable,  cannot  be  imposed  on  the  child. 
When  they  are  so  imposed  the  result  is  the  letter,  not 
the  spirit;  the  husk,  not  the  kernel. 

As  the  sluggard  went  to  the  ant,  so  the  school  must 
go  to  the  street.  It  has  lessons  more  fundamental 
than  the  school.  The  boy  needs  its  teaching  quite  as 


118  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

much  as  that  of  the  school;  to  separate  them  is  to  fail. 
To  cry  down  the  street  and  to  laud  the  school  is  to 
confess  an  ignorance  of  those  conditions  and  of  that 
innate  energy  by  means  of  which  alone  man  was  able 
to  stand  erect  and  to  grasp  with  his  hand.  The  summer 
school  sought  to  utilize  the  power  which  has  made  men. 
This  was  done  by  correlating  all  work  around  the  inter- 
ests based  upon  the  instinctive  life  of  the  child.  The 
constructive  instinct,  the  proprietary  instinct,  the 
play  instinct,  the  parental  instinct,  and  so  on,  found 
material  for  their  use  in  the  consideration  of  "My 
Home".  That  the  plan  was  fundamentally  right  the 
statement  of  the  work  accomplished  will  seek  to  prove. 

The  second  consideration  was  that  of  grouping  the 
children  according  to  the  ability  of  each  as  indicated 
in  the  reports  submitted.  There  were  two  reports  for 
each  of  the  original  fifteen  children.  One  gave  the 
Psychological  Clinic  record,  the  other  was  a  state- 
ment from  the  principal  of  the  public  school  where  the 
child  was  enrolled.  The  Psychological  Clinic's  state- 
ment appears  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

The  second  report,  that  from  the  public  school 
principals,  gave  information  as  to  the  child's  age, 
nationality,  and  the  economic  status  of  his  family, 
his  physical  condition,  his  school  history  with  certain 
statements  regarding  the  child's  special  tastes,  pecu- 
liarities, etc. 


THE  EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION.   119 

OBSERVATIONS  ON  CHILDREN  PROPOSED  FOR  A 
SPECIAL  CLASS. 

P.S District 

Name Address 

Age Grade Nationality  F M 

Yrs.  in  U.  S Home  Conditions 

Health  Record:  Nutrition Bone  Dis Enl.  Gl 

Teeth Throat Nose Vision  R L 

Hearing  R L Nervous  Disease 

School  Record:  K'ndg terms  1A terms  IB terms 

2A terms  2B terms  3A terms  3B terms 

Sp'c'l terms.  School  Att Cause  of  Irreg.  Att 

Absence  in  last  two  terms Attention Memory 

Oral  Exp Hand  Work Phys.  Tr Number 

Reading Writing Sp.  Tastes 

Disposition Behavior Habits 

Peculiarities....  


Other  Information 

19.... 


Principal. 


120  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

These  records  furnished  a  sad  commentary  on  the 
ability  of  elementary  school  teachers  to  observe 
children.  When  it  is  recalled  that  all  of  these  children 
were  backward  in  their  school  work,  and  that  the  greater 
number  were  reported  as  at  least  hard  to  con- 
trol, it  is  significant  that  under  the  heading  "Special 
tastes  and  peculiarities,"  the  statement  "Do  not 
know"  is  made  so  many  times.  The  problem  in  hand 
now  was  the  grouping  of  the  children  and  defining  in 
its  lowest  terms  the  pedagogical  problem  presented 
by  each.  The  first  group  represents  the  best,  the 
third,  the  poorest  mental  power. 

GROUPINGS,  JULY  5,  1911. 


Best 

2d  best 

3d  best 

Samuel  H. 

Richmond  B. 

Abraham  L. 

Julia  C. 

Oswald  Z. 

Russell  F. 

Giovanni  A. 

Morgan  C. 

Flora  C. 

Wilbur  B. 

Gertrude  B. 

Clara  S. 

Agnes  D. 

Ernest  H. 

Robert  S. 

The  time  schedule  or  school  program  was  modelled 
on  the  same  lines  as  those  in  use  in  ordinary  ungraded 
classes  and  schools,  and  appears  on  the  next  page. 


THE  EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION.   121 

DAILY  PROGRAMME  OF  SPECIAL  CLASS,  1911. 


Divisions 

A 

B 

C 

9.00-  9.15 

Opening  Exercises  all  together 

9.15-  9.30 

Morning  talk  to  all 

9.30-  9.45 

Written 
language 

Oral 
reproduction 

9.45-10.00 

Paper  language 

Language  B.B. 

Manual  work 

10.00-10.15 

Number 

Number 

Number 

10.15-10.30 

Relaxation 

Relaxation 

Relaxation 

10.30-11.00 

Manual  work 

Manual  work 

Reading 

11.00-11.30 

Reading 

Reading 

Quiet  work 

11.30-12.30 

Gymnasium  and  pool 

12.30-  2.00 

Luncheon  and  rest 

2.00-  2.20 

Drawing 

Drawing 

Sense  training 

2.20-  2.40 

Sense  training 

Sense  training 

Drawing 

2.40-  3.00 

Games 

Games 

Games 

3.00-  3.15 

Physical  work  —  all  children 

3.15-  3.30 

Folk  dancing 

Corrective  for 
children  who 
need 

3.30-  4.00 

Articulation 

Story 
dramatization 

BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

The  most  essential  problem  of  the  "paper  organiza- 
tion" was  the  selection  of  teachers.  Only  such  teachers 
as  believed  in  the  fundamental  principles  of  work  for 
backward  children  as  they  are  indicated  above,  and 
only  such  as  could  live  the  faith  that  was  in  them, 
should  be  asked  to  carry  on  the  summer  work.  Out 
of  a  large  number  of  excellent  teachers,  Miss  Elizabeth 
A.  Walsh,  of  Public  School  No.  165,  New  York,  and 
Mrs.  Margaret  Pfeiffer,  of  Public  School  No.  10,  Brook- 
lyn, were  asked  to  help  in  the  special  class.  Each 
of  these  women  for  several  years  has  done  distinguished 
work  in  ungraded  classes  in  New  York  City.  They 
possess  in  rare  degree  that  type  of  mind  which  seeks 
for  the  explanation  of  conditions  found  to  exist.  This 
explanation  they  sought  in  the  study  of  anatomy  and 
psychology  under  the  direction  of  university  authorities. 
Modern  treatment  of  mental  disease  and  defect  they 
observed  in  the  best  schools  and  hospitals  in  the  East. 
Motor  training  from  the  side  of  technique  found  no 
place  in  their  philosophy  of  education,  but  from  the 
side  of  evolution  it  offered  the  same  opportunity  to 
these  children  as  that  enjoyed  by  primitive  man,  on 
whose  level  of  mentality  they  probably  live.  A  kind 
of  ability  not  often  possessed  by  teachers  of  any  grade, 
the  power  and  patience  to  train  speech,  was  one  of  the 
good  things  Miss  Walsh  and  Mrs.  Pfeiffer  brought  to  the 
work.  Incorrect  speech  in  children  has  not  until  very 


THE  EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION.   123 

recently  received  attention  from  teachers.  This  made 
it  difficult  to  get  control  of  the  knowledge  extant  on 
the  subject.  Only  a  comparatively  small  amount  of 
all  that  is  being  done  in  developing  and  training  speech 
is  available  in  book  form.  This  made  it  necessary 
for  these  teachers  to  make  pilgrimages  similar  to  those 
so  common  in  the  Middle  Ages,  when  earnest  students 
went  from  place  to  place  in  order  to  be  instructed  by 
the  master  in  any  given  subject. 

The  matter  of  organization  so  far  as  it  could  be 
perfected  before  July  5th  was  now  finished.  On  the 
first  day  of  the  session  the  tables  and  chairs  were 
properly  adjusted  for  the  use  of  the  children.  The  tools 
were  distributed  and  the  work  of  the  summer  begun. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  WORK  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS. 

* 

BY  ELIZABETH   E.    FARRELL. 

When  the  children  reported  on  July  5, 1911,  the  regu- 
lar school  exercises  took  place.  For  the  purpose  of 
discussion,  these  exercises  will  be  considered  as  physical, 
manual,  and  so-called  school  work,  i.  e.  reading,  num- 
ber, etc.  The  physical  exercises  include  all  those 
activities  which  were  intended  to  promote  physical, 
efficiency.  They  fall  under  the  headings  of  formal 
gymnastics,  corrective  gymnastics,  organized  games 
and  plays,  folk  dancing,  luncheon,  and  the  rest  period. 
All  the  children  took  part  in  all  the  formal  physical 
exercises  when  the  term  began.  As  the  days  went  by, 
certain  children  showed  ability  to  do  more  advanced 
work,  and  there  came  to  be  groups  doing  wand  work, 
others  doing  dumb-bell  work,  and  during  the  last  two 
weeks,  a  group  was  able  to  handle  Indian  clubs  in  a 
very  satisfactory  fashion.  Organized  play  appealed  to 
all  the  children,  while  the  folk  dancing  was  of  use  only 
with  the  younger  children. 

Luncheon  was  served  at  12.30  each  day.  The 
food  was  sent  in  from  a  restaurant.  The  girls  set  the 
table,  and  the  boys  cleared  up  and  washed  the  dishes. 

(124) 


WORK  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.       125 

One  of  the  most  satisfactory  bits  of  work  done  during 
the  session  was  connected  with  the  luncheon.  It  was 
a  mental  task  for  the  girls  to  get  the  right  number  of 
places  set.  To  cut  the  bread  was  a  task  which  only  two 
girls,  Julia  and  Flora,  were  at  all  able  to  perform  in  a 
satisfactory  manner.  The  placing  of  knives  and  forks, 
pouring  the  milk,  passing  the  butter,  etc.,  afforded 
the  best  kind  of  motor  training.  The  behavior  of  the 
boys  and  girls  was  a  pleasure  to  witness  as  they  became 
able  to  carry  on  conversation  in  a  quiet  way  and  to  ask 
with  patience  to  be  helped  to  more  food.  The  eager- 
ness with  which  the  boys  washed  the  dishes  was  a  con- 
stant surprise.  From  the  biggest  to  the  littlest  they 
asked  for  a  turn.  Besides  washing  dishes,  they  swept 
the  room  and  put  it  in  order  for  the  children  who  were  to 
return  for  their  afternoon  nap.  When  all  had  finished 
eating,  the  boys  went  downstairs  and  the  girls  to  the 
cloak  room,  to  brush  their  teeth.  This  habit  was  formed 
very  quickly.  No  child  had  to  be  forced  to  do  it.  As 
soon  as  the  teeth  were  brushed,  the  sleep  time  had 
arrived.  The  rest  was  taken  in  steamer  chairs 
placed  out  under  the  trees,  when  conditions  per- 
mitted, or  in  the  class  room.  After  a  day  or  two, 
each  child  slept  or  kept  quiet  in  his  chair  for  one 
hour.  The  following  is  a  detailed  statement  of  the 
rest  period: 


126  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

SLEEP  RECORD 

Giovanni  A ////// 6 

Wilbur  B /////////////// 15 

Richmond  B.  . ./////// 7 

Henry  B 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 13 

Morgan  C // 2 

Russell  F /I I / Illlll 10 

Ernest  H never  slept. 

Samuel  H Illlll  Illlll 12 

David  L ////////// 10 

Abraham  L.  . . .////////////////////////////. . .  28 

Robert  S ///// 5 

George  S 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15 

Oswald  Z ///////////////////// 21 

Gertrude  B. . . .////////////////// 18 

FloraC 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ..  .  14 

Julia  C never  slept. 

Agnes  D // 2 

Clara  S 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 18 

Susan  C //// 4 

The  manual  training  centered  about  the  building  of 
a  doll's  house.  The  children  were  asked  to  bring  a 
wooden  box.  The  ordinary  soap  box  was  best.  Ten 


WORK  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.       127 

children  started  the  house;  nine  brought  the  problem 
through  to  completion.  Giovanni  got  discouraged 
with  the  sawing.  He  seemed  to  lack  the  imagination 
necessary  to  carry  him  along.  The  piece  of  work  that 
required  the  greatest  attention  span  was  done  by 
Samuel.  He  made  a  stool  with  a  caned  seat.  The 
frame  of  the  stool  he  made  himself,  measured,  squared, 
and  put  it  together  with  dowels.  The  holes  for  the 
caning  he  had  considerable  trouble  with,  but  finally 
got  them  worked  out.  The  exercise  took  the  greater 
part  of  two  weeks.  To  have  stuck  by  it  seems  to  dis- 
prove his  teacher's  statement  about  his  "attention 
fair".  The  construction  of  the  house  involved  work 
with  textiles,  clay,  water  color,  etc.  As  in  the  physical 
training,  all  the  children  were  given  the  same  work, 
the  same  opportunity  for  effort.  As  the  days  passed, 
they  grouped  themselves  and  differentiated  their 
work  until  upon  completion  each  child's  work  was  quite 
different  from  the  rest.  Each  bore  the  stamp  of  the 
child's  personality.  Uniformity  did  not  prevail.  The 
mistakes  even  were  interesting  to  look  upon,  not  that 
the  children  dreamed  that  mistakes  had  been  made, — 
and  who  can  say  that  they  were  mistakes?  There  was 
also  a  great  difference  in  the  amount  of  work.  Some 
children  had  made  furniture,  others  had  oilcloth  and 
rugs  in  their  houses;  still  others,  pictures  and  lace 
curtains. 


128  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

ACADEMIC  WORK. 

The  thing  that  was  most  interesting  was  the  work 
done  in  the  usually  recognized  school  subjects,  reading, 
number,  language,  etc.  In  these  again  the  children 
themselves  indicated  what  was  to  be  done.  All  listened 
to  the  story,  and  each  reproduced  it  according  to  his 
ability.  The  main  interest  in  this  is  connected  with 
the  following  children:  Robert,  Ernest,  George,  Julia, 
Gertrude  and  David.  The  first  written  language  work 
with  this  group  was  done  on  the  black-board.  It  was  a 
reproduction  of  the  morning  talk.  From  a  garbled, 
badly  written  account  of  the  talk,  these  children 
learned  to  write  sentences  correctly  and  to  arrange  in 
a  more  or  less  orderly  manner  the  work  in  hand.  Each 
child  selected  his  own  spelling  words.  The  gain  in 
time,  interest  and  responsibility  is  to  be  reckoned 
with  here. 

In  conclusion  I  want  to  say  that  the  purpose  of  the 
school  was  to  interest  the  children,  to  direct  their 
activities  and  to  improve  their  physical  condition. 
That  they  were  interested  is  proved  by  the  attendance 
(see  following  table) .  That  their  activities  were  directed 
is  proved  by  the  variety  of  work  and  effort  that  blos- 
somed as  finished  products.  (See  illustrations,  plates 
XXI-XXXII.)  That  the  physical  efficiency  of  each 
child  has  been  promoted  will  appear  in  another  report. 


WORK  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.       129 

STATISTICS  OF  ATTENDANCE. 

Aggregate  attendance 559 

Average  daily  attendance 18.6 

Per  cent  of  attendance .983 

Present  every  day 12 

(Including  a  normal  boy.) 

Absent  one  day 6 

Absent  more  than  one  day 1 

(3  days  due  to   illness  and  treatment  at 

hospital.) 

The  physical  training  of  the  children  required  some 
care  and  management  in  order  to  bring  about  the  best 
results.  It  was  possible  to  accommodate  the  boys  in 
the  regular  University  gymnasium  at  Weightman  Hall 
for  both  their  physical  exercises  and  their  swimming 
lessons.  The  girls  were  given  their  regular  calisthenics 
by  the  teachers  of  the  special  class  in  the  rooms  where 
the  regular  daily  instruction  was  given.  Dumb-bells 
and  Indian  clubs  were  provided  for  the  purpose  and 
the  exercises  were  also  calculated  to  correct  any 
postural  defects  and  to  give  the  requisite  relaxation 
from  regular  class  work. 

The  boys,  twelve  in  number,  were  placed  under  the 
instruction  of  Mr.  Oscar  E.  Gerney,  Assistant  Instructor 
of  Gymnastics  in  the  Physical  Department  of  the 
University  Summer  School,  whose  professional  training 
for  gymnastic  instruction  and  whose  experience  in  the 


130  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

Nicetown  Boys'  Club  fitted  him  admirably  for  this 
part  of  the  special  class  work.  The  following  account 
of  the  boys'  physical  training  is  summarized  from  his 
report. 

The  physical  instruction  was  given  daily  from  11.30 
to  12  o'clock  on  the  gymnasium  floor.  On  July  llth 
the  class  work  began  with  simple  movements  requiring 
little  co-ordination  but  such  as  would  hold  the  atten- 
tion of  all  the  boys  at  the  same  time.  For  example,  the 
first  movement  consisted  in  placing  the  hands  upon  the 
hips  all  together,  holding  them  there  for  several  seconds 
and  then  at  the  command  of  " Place"  returning  them 
to  the  first  position  of  attention.  From  this  simple 
movement  those  requiring  greater  co-ordination  were 
gradually  developed.  At  the  word  of  command  the 
boys  all  charged  to  the  right,  at  the  same  time  raising 
the  right  arm  flexed  in  front  of  the  forehead  and  plac- 
ing the  left  arm  across  the  small  of  the  back.  This 
movement  was  repeated  several  times  and  then  changed 
to  the  opposite  movement  with  the  left  arm  flexed 
across  the  forehead  and  the  right  arm  across  the  back. 
At  the  end  of  each  drill  lasting  about  fifteen  minutes 
daily,  several  varieties  of  quick  movements  were  given 
to  stimulate  the  circulation,  to  bring  into  play  larger 
groups  of  muscles  and  to  warm  up  the  boys  preparatory 
to  the  better  enjoyment  of  the  succeeding  shower 
bath  or  swim.  These  exhilarating  exercises  included 


WORK  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.       131 

repeated  abducting  thigh-movements  with  both  arms 
at  the  side,  stationary  running  and  stationary  jumping, 
until  all  the  boys  were  blowing  vigorously,  and  the 
day's  lesson  wound  up  with  three  deep  breaths. 

A  game  of  indoor  baseball  usually  followed  immedi- 
ately after  the  exercises.  In  the  beginning  the  majority 
of  the  boys  knew  nothing  about  the  game,  the  positions, 
or  the  manner  of  catching  the  ball,  and  were  very 
clumsy  at  throwing  and  batting.  Robert  was  an 
exception  to  the  rest  of  the  boys  in  this  respect.  At 
the  end  of  the  six  weeks,  however,  all  of  them  except 
Russell  and  Oswald  had  become  moderately  well 
acquainted  with  the  game  and  engaged  in  it  with  a 
fair  degree  of  skill.  In  the  case  of  these  two  exceptions 
it  was  the  neuro-pathological  condition  which  ham- 
pered Oswald,  a  partial  paralytic,  and  Russell,  a 
flighty  little  creature  given  to  hysterics. 

Sometimes  the  baseball  game  was  varied  by  relay 
races.  This  game  was  introduced  not  only  for  the 
sake  of  co-ordination  and  the  zest  of  contest,  but  for 
the  training  in  patience  which  it  cultivates.  At  first 
the  lack  of  patience  in  waiting  until  the  boy  was  tagged 
by  the  previous  runner  was  manifest.  However,  the 
necessary  self-control  was  soon  developed,  so  that  the 
boys  could  contain  themselves  sufficiently  to  run  most 
exciting  races. 

On  account  of  the  use  of  the  gymnasium  by  other 


ISfc  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

Summer  School  students  it  was  necessary  to  make 
arrangements  for  swimming  lessons  three  times  one 
week  and  twice  the  following  week.  The  lessons  were 
given  in  the  large  pool  in  the  gymnasium  under  the 
special  swimming  teacher,  Mr.  Thomas  G.  Whittaker, 
and  each  boy  was  put  through  the  regular  course 
of  instruction,  being  directed  and  supported  individu- 
ally by  the  instructor  who  took  his  place  for  the  pur- 
pose in  the  water  beside  them.  On  their  first  visit 
to  the  pool  none  of  the  boys  could  swim  and  most  of 
them  were  afraid  of  the  water,  and  this  fear  was  so 
excessive  in  the  case  of  Morgan,  Russell,  and  Oswald 
that  they  were  not  forced  to  go  in  at  all.  Giovanni 
was  the  only  boy  who  did  not  show  any  fear,  though 
Robert  was  the  first  to  learn  to  swim.  He  was  soon 
followed  in  acquiring  the  art  by  three  others,  Giovanni, 
Abraham  and  Samuel. 

On  the  whole  the  physical  work  of  the  class  has 
been  good.  Every  day  up  to  the  end  of  the  term  the 
boys  showed  improvement  in  their  movements  and  in 
their  attention,  gave  every  evidence  of  enjoying  the 
exercises  and  showed  ambition  to  improve  in  their 
tasks,  and  not  only  were  able  to  perform  their  old  exer- 
cises with  exactness  of  movement,  but  showed  an 
increasing  capacity  to  learn  new  exercises.  As  com- 
pared with  classes  of  so-called  normal  boys  their 
conduct  was  exceptionally  good.  At  first  it  was  hard  to 


WORK  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.       133 

secure  obedience  to  commands,  but  that  seemed  to  be 
due  chiefly  to  lack  of  attention.  When  their  attention 
was  gained  and  they  were  kept  busy  all  of  the  time 
without  pauses,  the  obedience  was  all  that  could  be 
desired.  The  following  is  a  report  in  detail  of  each  boy 
as  submitted  by  the  instructor. 

Giovanni,  the  boy  who  took  so  readily  to  the  water, 
also  showed  a  marked  interest  in  the  floor  work  and 
derived  a  great  deal  of  benefit  from  it  both  in  notice- 
ably improved  co-ordination  and  conduct.  During  the 
sessions  he  had  to  be  disciplined  several  times  for  using 
bad  language. 

Richmond  is  a  large,  clumsy,  loose-jointed,  bear-cub 
looking  boy.  When  he  first  came  to  the  gymnasium 
he  was  unable  to  dress  and  undress  himself,  but  on 
account  of  the  exigency  of  the  occasion  and  the  absence 
of  anyone  to  help  him,  he  soon  acquired  the  art  and 
at  the  end  of  the  term  was  able  to  undress  and  dress 
himself  completely  without  aid.  He  went  regularly 
into  the  pool,  but  was  so  much  afraid  of  the  water  that 
he  made  practically  no  progress  in  swimming. 

Wilbur  is  another  boy  whose  fear  of  the  water 
prevented  any  great  progress  toward  swimming.  He 
preferred  the  shower  bath  to  the  pool  whenever  he 
had  the  opportunity  of  making  a  choice.  His  atten- 
tion in  the  gymnasium  and  his  co-ordination  in  the 
exercises  are  reported  good,  Great  kindliness  of  dis- 


134  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

position  showed  itself  in  his  attention  to  Oswald  and 
Russell,  the  two  smallest  and  most  helpless  boys  of 
the  group,  who  needed  his  help  in  dressing  and  un- 
dressing. 

Henry,  the  boy  who  came  in  somewhat  late,  at  first 
refused  to  go  on  the  floor,  but  gradually  began  to  take 
an  interest  in  the  gymnasium  and  in  the  games,  and  so 
finally  was  incorporated  in  the  class  as  one  of  the  good 
pupils.  His  diffidence  extended  also  to  the  pool  and  it 
required  some  days  before  he  found  confidence  enough 
to  try  the  water,  where  he  was  able  to  make  very 
little  progress  in  learning  to  swim. 

Morgan  improved  wonderfully  in  ability  to  con- 
centrate his  attention  upon  the  commands  of  the 
instructor  and  upon  the  work  in  hand,  and  his  co-ordi- 
nation improved  somewhat,  but  still  remains  poor.  He 
never  plucked  up  courage  enough  to  go  into  the  water, 
and  though  all  efforts  short  of  force  were  used,  this 
was  not  resorted  to  because  an  epileptic  seizure  was 
possible.  Morgan  was  one  day  characteristically  twitted 
by  Robert,  the  leader,  who  said  to  him,  "You  say  you 
can  swim,  but  you  won't  go  in.  Some  time  you  will 
be  on  a  big  boat  and  when  the  boat  goes  down,  saying 
you  can  swim  won't  save  you,  and  you'll  drown." 

Russell  also,  on  account  of  his  pathological  condi- 
tion, was  not  compelled  to  enter  the  pool,  as  there 
was  distinct  danger  of  bringing  on  a  hysterical  attack. 


WORK  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.       135 

In  gymnasium  work,  however,  he  did  very  much  better 
than  was  expected,  considering  his  extremely  inco- 
ordinate and  excitable  condition. 

Ernest,  whose  supine  "  goodness "  is  evident  in  every 
feature  of  his  countenance,  is  reported  as  being  less 
individualistic  than  any  other  of  the  boys.  He  seemed 
unable  to  pay  attention  to  the  commands  or  to  the 
exercises,  and  was  usually  found  dreaming  away  his 
time  or  drifting  aimlessly  from  one  thing  to  another. 
Neither  the  exercises  nor  the  games  claimed  any  large 
share  of  his  interest,  and  he  usually  followed  docilely 
the  lead  of  the  stronger  characters.  In  the  swimming 
pool  he  made  his  best  showing  and  would  have  learned 
to  swim  had  the  class  continued  for  a  little  longer 
time. 

Abraham,  a  little  dark-eyed,  pale-faced  Jewish  boy, 
made  more  progress  than  probably  any  other  boy  of 
the  class.  At  first  he  was  so  timid  and  nervous  that 
he  was  unable  to  take  his  part  in  any  games  or  exercises, 
but  by  close  attention  and  application  soon  learned  the 
movements,  and  at  the  end  was  able  to  play  the  games 
as  well  as  any  boy  in  the  class. 

Samuel's  attention  was  very  hard  to  get.  In  a  game 
he  became  greatly  excited  and  at  first  was  unable  to 
exercise  any  control  whatever  over  his  actions,  but 
would  spend  his  time  rushing  about  in  the  baseball  field 
to  encourage  his  team-mates  without  really  doing  any- 


136  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

thing.  Gradually  he  improved  in  this  respect  and  be- 
came a  good  player  and  good  worker  on  the  floor. 

Robert  took  his  place  naturally  as  the  leader  of  the 
boys.  In  all  of  its  phases  he  took  hold  of  the  work  and 
put  into  it  more  of  the  vim  and  vigor  of  a  normal  boy 
than  any  of  the  rest.  He  was  universally  obedient  to 
the  instructor  and  kind  to  the  other  boys,  and  his 
feeling  of  his  relation  to  the  group  as  well  as  his  "gang" 
instinct  manifested  itself  on  day  in  the  following  way. 
One  day  Giovanni,  a  typical  street  urchin,  swore  a 
little  more  emphatically  than  usual  over  a  stubborn  shoe- 
lace that  refused  to  find  its  proper  hole.  The  instructor 
happened  to  overhear  him  and  said,  "If  you  ever 
talk  like  that  again  here,  I'll  wash  out  your  mouth 
with  soap."  Then  Robert  volunteered,  "That's  what 
I  keep  telling  him,  but  he  talks  that  way  all  the  time." 
"Don't  tell  him,"  replied  the  instructor,  "but  come  and 
tell  me  and  I'll  attend  to  him."  But  Robert  shook 
his  head.  "No,  I  couldn't  do  that.  It's  all  right  if 
you  hear  him,  but  I  couldn't  tell  on  him." 

George,  true  to  his  inordinate  love  of  self-glory  and 
desire  to  attract  attention  by  mischief  if  no  other  way 
presents  itself,  has  given  more  trouble  in  gymnasium 
and  swimming  than  any  other  boy.  His  inattention 
to  the  duty  in  hand  was  deliberate  here,  as  every- 
where else.  He  was  usually  ready  to  start  a  movement, 
but  after  the  command  was  given  would  keep  up  with 


WORK  OF  THE  SPECIAL  CLASS.       137 

the  class  only  for  three  or  four  counts,  when  his  roving 
eyes  would  be  attracted  by  something  else  and  his 
mind  would  begin  to  plan  how  he  might  detach  himself 
from  the  group  and  show  off.  This  inattention  extended 
itself  even  to  the  games  where  most  of  the  boys  were 
completely  absorbed.  Unless  he  was  closely  watched 
he  would  leave  the  game  and  go  off  in  a  corner  to  try 
some  feat  by  himself.  His  fear  of  the  water  was 
excessive,  so  much  so  that,  in  the  absence  of  any  fear 
of  bad  results  on  the  part  of  the  teachers,  he  was 
made  to  take  his  swimming  lesson  and  was  thrust 
under  the  shower  bath  by  main  force.  He  was  char- 
acteristically careless  about  drying  himself  and  would 
bundle  hurriedly  into  his  clothes  half  wet,  unless  com- 
pelled to  wipe  himself  thoroughly. 

Oswald,  though  he  began  the  daily  exercises,  did  not 
attend  the  gymnasium  regularly  on  account  of  visits  to 
the  physician  and  on  account  of  his  physical  condition 
as  described  in  the  previous  notes.  It  was  found  to 
be  inadvisable,  on  account  of  his  lack  of  strength,  to 
give  him  swimming  lessons. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS  WITH  STUDENT 
OBSERVERS. 

BY   ELIZABETH   E.    FARRELL. 

[EDITORIAL  NOTE  :  During  the  first  half  of  the  summer  session 
Miss  Farrell  met  students  taking  the  observation  course  once 
each  week  for  formal  discussion.  For  the  most  part  the  students 
themselves  introduced  the  topics  of  discussion  by  asking  ques- 
tions. Miss  Farrell's  contributions  to  the  round  table  were  so 
helpful  to  students  interested  in  the  special  class,  that  I  have 
thought  they  would  be  of  service  to  others,  if  published  as  a 
part  of  this  volume.  The  discussions  were  reported  by  a  sten- 
ographer, and  the  following  transcriptions  have  been  made  from 
her  notes.  The  text  as  given  makes  no  attempt  at  rounding 
out  the  discussions  into  a  chapter  on  method,  nor  at  transform- 
ing the  off-hand  expressions  of  spontaneous  discussion  into  more 
formal  discourse.  During  the  latter  half  of  the  session  Miss 
Farrell  met  the  students  twice  a  day,  and  three  times  on  Thurs- 
days, for  more  informal  discussion,  but  these  conferences  are  not 
reported.  L.  W.] 

July  13,  1911. 

Miss  Farrell,  speaking  to  her  observation  class,  said: 
We  will  limit  the  discussion  to-day  to  manual  training 
and  physical  training.  The  observation  thus  far  has 
been  of  these  two  subjects. 

We  are  doing  intensively  here  what  in  New  York 
City  is  done  over  an  extended  period  of  time.  Take 
Mrs.  Pfeiffer's  class  in  New  York  for  instance, — 

(138) 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          139 

the  work  which  she  would  do  with  her  fifteen  children 
there  throughout  the  year,  she  will  do  here  in  six  weeks. 
The  difference  is  that  here  we  work  with  the  children 
all  the  time.  There,  a  class  at  the  bench  would  be 
under  direct  supervision,  while  the  other  children  would 
have  occupation  work  of  one  kind  or  another.  They 
would  work  at  their  own  tasks  and  the  teacher  would 
inspect  them  when  the  lesson  was  over.  While  it  is 
impossible  in  six  weeks  to  do  that  kind  of  work,  one 
teacher  doing  it  all,  it  is  possible  for  us,  with  three 
teachers,  to  show  you  the  whole  year's  work  in  six  weeks. 

Q.  What  physical  exercises  do  you  consider  most 
beneficial  for  children  who  are  inclined  to  be  round- 
shouldered? 

Miss  Farrell  answered:  The  setting  up  exercises, 
and  sitting  up  straight,  with  hands  behind  back,  also 
hanging  from  a  bar,  any  stretching  exercises. 

Q.  What  would  you  do  for  a  case  of  infantile  hemi- 
plegia,  where  one  leg  is  shorter  than  the  other? 

Miss  Farrell  said:  The  matter  of  corrective  exercises 
ought  to  be  under  the  direction  of  the  orthopedic 
specialist.  In  New  York  City  we  have  found  that 
orthopedic  specialists  are  willing  and  glad  to  see  a  child 
and  prescribe  corrective  exercises.  The  thing  to  do  is 
to  get  advice  immediately  from  an  orthopedic  specialist, 
the  advice  of  some  man  who  knows  about  anatomy 
and  physiology. 


140  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

Q.  Would  you  have  as  long  a  period  for  your 
manual  training  as  you  had  this  afternoon?  In  my 
class  they  lose  interest  so  soon,  they  fatigue  so  quickly. 
Here  you  kept  them  at  manual  work  for  nearly  an 
hour. 

A.  If  all  the  children  were  doing  the  same  thing, 
it  would  be  impossible  to  keep  them  going  for  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour.  One  boy  would  want  to  plane 
this,  and  another  saw  to  this  line.  You  couldn't  get 
around  to  all.  Start  the  little  people  on  something 
they  can  control,  then  your  time  is  for  the  children  who 
have  a  harder  problem.  Let  them  work  as  long  as 
they  can.  That's  the  trouble  with  these  children, — 
their  span  of  attention  is  so  short.  Our  whole  work 
must  aim  at  building  a  longer  and  a  longer  span.  If 
I  can  interest  this  child  in  working  for  ten  minutes 
on  something  that  previously  he  would  not  work  on 
for  five  minutes,  I  can  see  he  is  improving.  If  you 
go  into  a  class  room  and  see  everybody  interested  and 
everybody  working,  you  know  that  it  is  right,  funda- 
mentally. 

Study  the  material,  study  the  kind  of  work  you  give. 
What  are  the  interests  upon  which  that  work  is  based? 
Upon  what  instincts  in  the  child  do  you  base  your  work? 
If  you  get  these  two  things  right,  the  fatigue  point  is 
going  to  be  pushed  farther  and  farther  along,  and 
that'srwhat'we  wantW do. 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          141 

Q.    How  large  a  group  would  you  take  for  manual 
work? 

A.    The  largest  group  here  is  six.     That  is  large 
enough. 

If  I  may  take  up  the  physical  exercises  now, — the 
physical  training  embraces  three  great  types  of  work. 
For  all  the  children  we  can  use  one  type  of  work, 
based  upon  the  principle  of  imitation.     We  can  also 
take  all  of  the  children  through  work  based  on  command 
and  response.     I  need  not  work  out  here  the  psycho- 
logical reasons  for  these  groupings.     A  large  group,  as 
large  as  an  individual  teacher  can  keep  track  of,  can 
be  taken  together  for  these  two  types  of  physical 
training.     When  you  come  to  the  third  type,  the  one 
which  is  the  great  thing  for  work  with  backward  chil- 
dren, the  corrective  work,  the  group  must  be  small. 
We  have  small  groups  here,  only  two  or  three  children 
going  through  the  same  exercises.     All  the  work  is 
definite  and  specially  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  par- 
ticular child.     The  question  was  raised  before  most  of 
you  came  in,  What  corrective  exercises  do  you  consider 
best  for  these  children?     Unfortunately  I  am  not  an 
orthopedic  surgeon,  but  I  do  depend  upon  and  have 
the  co-operation  in  my  own  town  of  great  orthopedic 
surgeons.    I  recommend  this  same  co-operation  to  you. 
Find  some  one  who  is  willing  and  glad  to  tell  you  the 
orthopedic  defects  of  each  particular  child,  what  he 


142  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

needs,  how  to  correct  bad  posture,  how  to  lift  one 
shoulder  if  there  is  lack  of  symmetry,  how  to  correct 
a  bad  walk.  I  could  give  you  some  exercises  for  all  these 
purposes,  but  it  would  be  in  exactly  the  same  way  as 
you  would  go  out  and  buy  a  powder  to  cure  a  headache. 
That  is  all  wrong.  You  want  to  get  at  the  root  of  the 
thing.  Get  the  co-operation  of  the  best  orthopedic 
surgeon  in  your  town.  Go  with  the  child  and  be  present 
at  the  examination,  when  the  child  is  put  on  the  table 
and  gone  over.  In  that  way  you  will  build  up  a  body 
of  knowledge  which  will  help  you  to  carry  out  his 
directions.  It  would  be  unwise  for  you  to  take  any 
corrective  exercises  which  you  see  here,  and  apply  them 
without  further  definite  information.  Take,  for 
example,  a  boy  with  one  leg  longer  than  the  other. 
That  condition  may  arise  in  different  ways.  You 
want  to  know  the  cause  of  it,  quite  as  much  as  how 
to  cure  it.  You  are  not  to  take  any  work  of  that  kind 
except  as  an  indicator.  Find  some  one  who  knows 
more  about  it  than  you  do,  and  take  his  directions. 

These  two  types,  the  imitative,  and  the  command- 
and-response  work,  form  part  of  any  good  work  with 
backward  children.  For  these  you  may  have  as  large 
a  group  as  you  can  possibly  attend  to.  With  the  third 
type  you  must  have  a  small  group  in  order  that  the 
work  may  be  individual. 

There  are  some  rather  important  questions  which 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          143 

have  not  been  asked  yet:  Is  there  any  reason  for 
the  apportionment  of  manual  training  among  the 
different  children?  Is  there  any  reason  for  giving 
this  boy  basketry,  and  this  boy  wood-working?  The 
answers  to  these  questions  are  to  be  learned  from  a 
study  of  the  child.  Think  what  muscle  groups  are 
first  used  in  life.  That  is  the  guiding  principle  of  man- 
ual work.  If  you  remember  when  you  yourselves  began 
to  sew,  when  your  little  niece  began  to  take  hold  of 
a  needle,  what  came  before  that, — that  will  give  you 
something  to  start  with.  How  does  the  baby  learn  to 
use  his  muscles?  When  does  a  boy  begin  to  want  to 
use  a  saw  or  a  hammer?  He  wasn't  always  interested 
in  doing  that,  but  why  not?  Those  things  are  related 
to  definite  physiological  and  psychological  facts. 
They  concern  the  development  of  the  great  muscle 
groups  which  a  child  uses  when  he  begins  to  develop 
his  back  and  shoulders, — which  he  uses  when  he  reaches 
out  and  kicks  out, — those  facts  determine  what  kind 
of  manual  training  is  needed  for  backward  children. 

If  it  is  true,  as  some  people  are  now  saying,  that  Dr. 
Stanley  Hall  was  wrong  when  he  put  forth  the  theory 
of  fundamental  and  accessory  muscles,  no  matter. 
Let  us  hold  to  the  principle  which  I  have  just  stated, 
and  follow  the  natural  course  of  development  of  the 
child.  Poorly  co-ordinated  children, — children  who 
have  no  control  over  the  finer  muscles  of  their  hands, — 


144  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

must  have  the  big  thing  to  do  with  the  big  material. 
I  sometimes  visit  classes  where  children  are  working 
with  the  sloyd  knife  and  a  thin  slip  of  board.  If  you 
know  the  history  and  theory  of  the  development  of 
sloyd  in  Sweden,  you  know  the  place  which  it  holds 
in  that  educational  system.  It  comes  at  the  top,  not 
at  the  bottom  of  the  school  course.  When  we  take  the 
sloyd  knife  and  thin  lumber  and  give  the  children  chip 
carving,  we  are  giving  them  things  which  the  Swedes 
know  to  be  very  difficult,  a  material  difficult  to  handle, 
and  a  difficult  tool  to  manipulate.  The  boy  grows  dis- 
couraged and  throws  his  work  away.  Give  the  same 
boy  a  big  saw  and  a  heavy  piece  of  lumber  and  he  will 
go  to  work  and  get  something  out  of  it.  It  will  have 
a  very  definite  kind  of  educational  value  for  him. 
Give  him  heavy  materials,  big  tools,  and  ask  him  only 
for  coarse,  crude,  unfinished  work. 

These  statements  contain  the  theory  upon  which 
the  manual  training  work  you  have  seen  here  is  based. 
We  give  the  poorly  co-ordinated  children  the  big 
things  to  do  in  a  big  way,  and  we  give  the  better 
co-ordinated  children  the  finer  things. 

Those  of  you  who  were  present  when  the  children 
formed  on  the  floor  for  the  physical  training  exercises 
last  Thursday,  have  seen  every  exercise  but  one.  We 
did  steal  a  march  on  you  once,  but  we  didn't  get  any- 
thing done.  Now  what  is  the  secret  of  the  improve- 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          145 

ment  which  is  apparent  in  the  formation  on  the  floor? 
What  was  the  trouble  a  week  ago?  on  last  Friday? 
The  children  did  not  know  where  to  stand.  They  could 
not  follow  each  other.  Miss  Walsh  said,  "Stand 
here/'  but  they  couldn't  stand  there.  They  didn't 
know  where  "here"  was  or  how  to  get  "here".  With 
those  seventeen  children  there  was  something  inside 
their  heads  that  was  wrong.  They  weren't  bad,  they 
wanted  to  do,  but  they  couldn't.  When  Miss  Walsh 
said  to  little  Morgan,  "You  stand  on  this  spot,"  he 
hadn't  the  remotest  idea  how  to  get  on  this  spot  and 
stay  there.  They  all  meant  to  do  it,  but  they  didn't 
know  how.  Look  at  these  ropes.  They  are  made  of 
plaited  raffia.  The  first  time  they  were  used,  the  four 
children  hi  front  held  this.  They  could  understand 
that  this  was  a  blue  line  and  all  the  blue  people  were 
here.  This  one  we  called  red;  all  the  red  people  held 
this  rope.  And  the  same  way  with  the  white  one. 
They  were  all  in  their  places,  and  those  were  the 
things  which  got  them  to  do  it.  It  was  of  no  use  to  say 
to  these  children,  Now  you  are  a  leader  and  you  stand 
here,  and  you  follow  him, — they  simply  couldn't  do  it, 
until  we  gave  them  the  rope  to  hold. 

Dr.  Holmes  remarked:  We  can't  show  you  what 
Miss  Farrell  has  done  with  these  children.  We  can't 
pin  up  her  work  with  them  on  the  screen.  Her  work 
has  gone  home,  inside  the  children. 


146  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

Miss  Farrell  resumed,  in  explanation  of  this  idea: 
Can  you  see  what  these  ropes  did  for  the  children? 
They  made  the  thing  concrete.  The  child  had  some- 
thing in  his  hand.  He  felt  it,  he  could  see  the  color, 
and  he  knew  that  other  children  had  hold  of  the  same 
thing.  That  is  what  made  him  get  in  line.  Perhaps 
a  week  from  to-night  you  will  see  that  the  children 
are  able  to  form  on  the  floor  without  these  ropes. 
That  is  growth,  and  it  is  something  that  you  cannot 
put  up  on  the  screen.  It  is  something  inside  the 
children,  and  their  ability  has  been  organized  to  that 
extent.  To-night  it  is  dependent  upon  this,  but  a 
week  from  to-night  it  may  not  be  dependent  upon  this. 

Manual  training  is  only  something  to  hang  on  to. 
We  don't  want  manual  training  for  these  children; 
we  want  co-ordination.  If  you  know  anything  better 
than  manual  training  to  develop  co-ordination,  you 
ought  to  use  it.  I  would  put  every  thing  the  child 
makes  on  the  screen,  I  would  let  it  be  his  own  work, 
I  would  put  it  up  for  my  own  encouragement.  It  is 
perfectly  marvelous  from  day  to  day  to  see  the  im- 
provement in  the  children.  And  I  think  we  discount 
the  feeling  that  we  know  the  children  better.  Get 
some  of  the  work  that  each  child  does  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  school  term.  Keep  it  and  look  at  it  six 
months  hence.  If  it  is  better,  yours  is  the  credit, 
and  if  it  is  worse,  yours  in  all  probability  is  the  fault. 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          147 

It  will  be  a  measure  of  your  ability  to  do  this  kind  of 
teaching.  How  long  would  I  keep  his  first  work? 
I  would  keep  it  until  he  graduates. 

We  in  New  York  have  another  habit.  At  the  end 
of  the  school  year  we  mount  the  work  of  each  child 
in  a  chart.  Not  all  the  work,  and  not  carefully  selected 
work.  If  you  save  a  paper  every  Friday,  or  every 
Monday,  you  will  have  work  enough  to  show  progress. 
Think  how  proud  the  boy  himself  will  be!  It  is  the 
best  kind  of  inspiration  for  the  child,  for  the  teacher, 
and  for  the  parent.  Because  progress  is  slow,  parents 
are  impatient,  but  if  you  can  "show  them  the  goods" 
they  will  be  satisfied. 

I  wouldn't  let  a  child  dawdle  all  day  over  a  block 
like  this  one  on  the  screen.  I  would  call  it  finished, 
just  as  Mrs.  Pfeiffer  called  Russell's  block  finished. 
Abraham  is  like  Russell  in  age  and  in  power  to  talk, 
but  he  is  a  little  better  in  co-ordination.  In  a  given 
time  Abe  can  do  this,  and  Russell  can  do  that.  It 
is  a  measure  for  each  child.  Even  though  the  work 
is  not  finished,  it  shows  the  ability  of  these  boys  to 
do  work  in  a  given  time,  and  that  you  need  for  your 
own  encouragement  as  the  year  progresses.  But 
there  are  some  interesting  questions  about  the  manual 
training  work  which  seem  to  be  getting  away  from  us. 

Q.  To-day  I  noticed  little  Samuel,  who  only  yester- 
day learned  how  to  hold  a  saw,  come  forward  and 


148  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

correct  another  child  who  was  having  trouble  with 
it.  This  shows  so  much  improvement,  and  such  a  good 
spirit, — don't  you  think  so? 

A.  That  is  not  as  good  as  it  seems,  if  it  was  Samuel 
who  did  the  correcting.  That  is  Samuel's  propensity, 
— he  wants  to  correct  everybody. 

Q.  I  observed  some  of  the  boys  using  the  file. 
Why  was  that? 

Mrs.  Pfeiffer  answered:  I  wouldn't  use  the  file 
at  all  for  a  normal  child.  I  only  used  it  for  the  motion. 
You  see,  the  big  planes  had  gone  back,  and  the  small 
ones  hadn't  come  yet,  and  one  of  the  boys  asked  if  he 
mightn't  use  the  file.  The  motion,  back  and  forth,  is 
about  the  same,  so  I  let  them  use  it.  Speaking  in 
terms  of  physical  co-ordination,  the  file  is  just  as 
good  for  the  boy  of  poor  co-ordination  as  the  plane. 

Miss  Farrell  resumed:  Every  boy  loves  to  pound 
nails.  Give  him  a  hammer  and  a  nail  and  a  piece  of 
wood,  and  you  have  done  it  all.  There  is  the  thing 
he  is  interested  in,  and  to  be  allowed  to  do  it!  What 
joy!  Keep  that  in  mind.  You  want  to  appeal  to  the 
thing  which  is  natural  for  that  child.  Find  out  what 
the  child  ought  to  be  doing  at  his  age,  what  are  the 
things  he  should  be  interested  in.  I  have  seen  boys 
in  the  city  who  collected  literally  bushels  of  rubbish. 
But  think  what  it  was  they  were  doing.  They  were 
collecting!  Wherever  they  were,  in  school  and  out  of 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          149 

school,  they  were  collecting.  They  were  bringing 
in  handles  of  broken  cups,  and  old  wheels,  and  pieces 
of  straw.  They  weren't  interested  in  postage  stamps, 
for  they  never  got  a  letter,  but  they  were  interested 
in  a  bright,  shiny  piece  of  brass  that  they  could  rub 
on  their  cheek.  And  it  all  led  somewhere.  It  was  a 
long  time  leading,  but  it  led  somewhere.  Under  the 
teacher's  direction  these  boys  made  a  tray,  with 
divisions,  and  put  things  of  rubber  here,  and  iron  here, 
and  so  on.  Think  of  the  body  of  knowledge  they  were 
accumulating  about  these  things!  There  was  some- 
thing fundamental  in  that  teacher's  mind  when  she 
said,  "Let's  collect." 

Q.    Do  you  think  Robert  is  incorrigible? 

A.    Has  he  given  any  evidence  of  incorrigibility? 

Q.    Well,  he  seems  to  get  into  trouble. 

A.    Then  is  he  incorrigible,  or  highly  suggestible? 

Q.  I  think  he  is  of  the  type  which  is  likely  to  be- 
come incorrigible.  He  seems  to  be  hard  to  control. 

A.  The  conditions  here  were  not  quite  normal 
to-day.  The  children  were  delayed  in  returning  from 
the  rest  room.  Like  any  other  boy,  Robert  was  find- 
ing something  to  do  by  teasing  the  rest.  I  have  never 
seen  an  incorrigible  boy.  I  question  whether  there 
is  such  a  thing  as  an  incorrigible  boy.  There  are 
stupid  teachers  who  dub  these  children  incorrigible, 
but  I  believe  if  we  were  teachers  in  truth  as  well  as 


150  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

in  word  of  mouth,  we  would  not  find  so  many  incorrig- 
ible. If  we  stop  to  consider  the  influence  of  digestion, 
for  only  one  thing,  upon  goodness  and  badness,  we 
would  give  them  castor  oil  occasionally,  and  the 
incorrigibility  would  disappear.  I  hope  that  you 
twenty  women  will  go  out  and  believe  one  thing, — 
that  young  life  at  bottom  is  good,  and  bad  boys  are 
made  by  teachers  who  are  bad  and  seldom  in  any 
other  way.  I  know  you  have  to  face  the  questions  of 
home  influence,  of  slum  environment,  and  bad  food, 
but  there  are  ways  to  cope  with  all  these.  There 
are  charity  organization  societies,  church  clubs  and 
associations,  and  a  thousand  other  ways  to  save  a  boy, 
like  little  Russell,  who  may  not  be  worth  the  trouble, 
but  whom  we  are  going  to  save. 

Q.     Do  you  consider  Robert  mentally  defective? 

A.  His  co-ordination  is  not  as  good  as  it  should 
be;  he  has  this  speech  defect.  I  believe  if  his  speech 
defect  could  be  overcome,  that  his  awakening  would 
be  marvelous.  With  decent  expression, — vocal  expres- 
sion,— he  might  wake  up  tremendously.  I  am  thinking 
of  Robert's  general  intelligence,  of  his  ability  to  express 
himself  in  written  English.  He  can  read  very  well. 
He  can  write  sentences  like,  "I  live  in  Germantown," 
"My  house  has  twelve  rooms  in  it."  This  seems 
elementary,  but  he  can  do  it  correctly. 

I  would  suggest  that  in  your  observation  work, 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          151 

you  keep  these  two  ideas  in  mind:  Upon  what  in  the 
child's  life,  upon  what  instinct  in  the  child  is  this 
work  based?  First,  what  is  the  appeal,  and  secondly, 
why  this  appeal?  Express  in  psychological  terms  the 
meaning  of  what  you  see.  While,  it  will  be  nice  to  go 
away  from  here  knowing  a  good  many  different  things 
to  do,  yet  I  think  that  people  enthusiastic  enough  to 
come  to  Philadelphia  for  a  summer  school  ought  to 
go  back  as  missionaries  and  know  the  psychological 
meaning  of  the  whole  thing.  This  work,  if  interpreted 
in  every  case  in  terms  of  psychology  as  you  learn 
it,  will  give  you  a  foundation  upon  which  to  work 
out  your  own  methods.  No  one  person  knows  all 
there  is  to  know.  No  one  person  knows  all  the  ways 
of  doing  things.  While  what  you  see  here  will  help 
you  and  point  out  next  year's  .path,  the  thing  to  do 
is  to  build  on  a  sure  foundation,  upon  an  accurate 
knowledge  of  how  the  mind  develops.  In  training 
a  child's  mind  you  want  to  know  what  to  train  towards, 
and  don't  go  against  that.  Use  all  there  is  there, 
and  use  it  to  the  best  advantage,  and  some  day  the 
result  will  come. 

(After  the  meeting  was  adjourned,  Miss  Farrell 
told  how  she  had  managed  one  "incorrigible"  boy. 
He  had  a  passion  for  breaking  things,  and  a  desire 
to  throw  stones.  She  had  the  janitor  bring  up  a  large 
pane  of  glass,  and  some  stones.  She  set  the  glass  up 


152  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

against  the  wall,  and  told  the  boy  to  throw  stones 
at  it  as  much  as  he  liked.  In  this  way  she  gratified 
his  natural  instinct  to  throw  and  to  destroy  some- 
thing, and  did  it  in  a  way  which  diverted  this  instinct 
into  a  harmless  channel.  Having  broken  the  glass, 
he  was  ready  to  be  interested  in  something  else.) 

Friday,  July  14,  1911. 

Dr.  Holmes  and  Miss  Farrell  called  a  meeting  of 
the  students  who  had  volunteered  to  assist  in  serving 
the  children's  luncheon,  for  the  purpose  of  explaining 
the  principles  which  underlie  this  part  of  the  training. 

Dr.  Holmes  spoke  first,  and  said  in  substance: 
The  reason  we  are  serving  luncheon  to  the  children 
is  in  the  first  place  to  build  them  up  physically,  to 
feed  their  bodies,  including  their  brains.  In  the  second 
place,  we  are  teaching  them  to  set  a  table,  to  eat  from 
plates,  and  to  handle  a  knife  and  fork  and  spoon. 
These  are  concrete  things.  Some  children  can  be  taught 
only  these  things.  Some  feeble-minded  children  can 
be  taught  to  set  a  table  and  do  other  domestic  work, 
when  they  can't  be  taught  anything  else,  can't  be 
taught  reading  or  writing  or  arithmetic.  But  we  are 
not  primarily  concerned  with  training  girls  for  domestic 
service.  That  is  a  fine  thing  in  itself,  but  it  is  not 
our  object.  We  are  training  their  minds,  developing 
their  intellects  by  teaching  them  to  use  their  hands 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          153 

and  to  obey  commands.  Some  children  have  to  be 
taught  this  way  first,  and  later  on,  when  they  have 
begun  to  learn,  they  can  be  taught  other  things,  like 
reading  and  writing  and  arithmetic. 

It  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  pedagogy,  to  proceed 
from  the  concrete  to  the  abstract,  but  most  teachers 
never  grasp  this  idea.  They  jump  at  once  to  the 
abstract.  Now  a  normal  child  will  stand  a  good  deal 
of  bad  teaching,  and  may  learn  in  spite  of  it.  There 
is  nothing  essentially  different  between  the  kind  of 
pedagogy  which  a  backward  child  needs  and  the  kind 
a  normal  child  needs.  What  is  good  for  the  backward 
child  is  good  for  the  normal  child.  Proceed  from  the 
concrete  to  the  abstract.  When  we  are  teaching  these 
children  table  manners,  to  handle  a  spoon  properly, 
to  say  "  Yes,  ma'am, "  and  "  No,  ma'am, "  and  "Please," 
we  are  teaching  them  something  concrete,  and  are 
developing  them  intellectually  just  as  when  we  give 
them  manual  training  or  teach  them  to  march  in  line 
by  holding  on  to  a  rope. 

There  is  too  much  abstraction  in  the  ordinary  school 
room.  There  is  nothing  in  the  world  so  abstract  as 
the  figure  one.  If  you  teachers  will  spend  your  leisure 
time  of  evenings  for  the  next  six  months  in  bringing 
your  minds  to  bear  on  the  question  of  what  is  abstract 
and  what  is  concrete,  and  how  to  proceed  from  the 
concrete  to  the  abstract,  then  you  will  be  able  to  begin 


154  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

good  teaching.  You  will  not  have  to  go  to  magazines 
to  find  out  what  other  teachers  are  doing  and  copy 
that.  You  will  be  able  to  study  your  children  and 
do  work  with  them  which  other  people  will  discover 
is  new  and  original,  and  they  will  come  to  you  to  learn 
how  you  do  it. 

Have  I  expressed  your  idea,  Miss  Farrell? 

Miss  Farrell  rose  and  said,  Yes,  I  think  you  have 
said  it  exactly,  Professor  Holmes.  I  think  you  will 
have  to  think  it  over,  many  and  many  dark  winter 
nights,  before  you  know  that  what  Professor  Holmes 
says  is  the  point.  I  am  always  fond  of  going  back  to 
a  little  baby.  If  you  have  a  baby  in  your  home,  or 
in  the  neighborhood,  a  baby  will  teach  you  more  than 
you  can  learn  in  any  other  way.  A  baby  develops 
in  a  certain  way,  and  in  that  way  these  children  must 
develop. 

I  know  that  if  I  can  see  the  direct  application 
of  what  I  am  doing  and  what  I  am  going  to  do,  I  can 
make  something  out  of  that.  I  want  to  show  you  what 
can  be  done  in  your  own  classes  in  feeding  the  children. 
I  am  going  to  ask  Mrs.  Bryant,  who  has  charge  of 
providing  the  luncheon,  to  tell  you  about  it. 

Mrs.  Bryant  said:  This  class  is  unusually  well 
endowed.  We  can  spend  fifteen  cents  on  each  child 
every  day.  This  is  about  five  times  what  you  can 
usually  spend.  Three  cents  is  the  cost  of  the  most 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          155 

elaborate  luncheon  which  is  being  served  in  the  public 
schools.  For  three  cents  they  are  able  to  give  a  bowl 
of  soup,  or  heavy  broth  of  some  kind,  and  two  slices 
of  bread  and  butter.  Sometimes  they  have  to  leave 
out  the  butter,  according  to  the  price.  The  broth 
is  as  a  rule  not  made  of  meat,  but  of  peas  or  beans  with 
rice  in  it.  Peas  and  beans  are  the  only  vegetables 
that  contain  a  sufficient  amount  of  tissue-building 
stuff.  Meat  extracts  are  chiefly  used  for  flavoring, 
but  they  cannot  form  tissue  and  bone,  and  they  are 
expensive.  The  extractives  contain  the  tonic  elements 
and  the  taste. 

Another  kind  of  food  is  bread  and  milk.  Here  in 
Philadelphia  they  can  give  bread  and  milk,  or  shredded 
wheat  with  milk,  a  sufficient  quantity  to  make  a  good 
lunch,  for  three  cents.  The  most  elaborate  lunch  on 
record  for  three  cents  is  that  given  in  the  Bradford 
schools,  in  England.  There  they  get  a  piece  of  meat- 
pie,  with  a  dish  of  peas,  bread,  and  sometimes  a  dessert 
— rolypoly,  or  cake,  or  buns.  The  only  reason  they 
can  do  it  for  three  cents  is  that  they  have  equipment 
for  serving  ten  thousand  meals  a  day.  In  New  York 
the  lunches  cost  three  or  four  cents,  including  the  cost 
of  the  woman  to  wash  up,  but  not  including  the  cost 
of  supervision. 

If  you  are  going  to  give  a  lunch  every  day,  the  cheap- 
est and  best  thing  would  be  shredded  wheat  and  milk. 


156  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

It  would  not  require  preparation,  but  would  give  some- 
thing for  the  children  to  do,  to  break  up  the  shredded 
wheat.  It  would  not  be  too  hard  on  the  children. 
Or  you  can  give  four  or  five  graham  crackers  and 
three-fourths  of  a  glass  of  milk  for  three  cents.  I  am 
speaking  now  of  the  wholesale  prices,  of  course.  You 
could  give  them  three-fourths  of  a  glass  of  milk  and  a 
whole  shredded  wheat  biscuit  for  three  cents. 

Other  combinations  are  boiled  rice  with  stewed  fruit 
poured  over  it.  For  a  penny  you  can  give  a  cup  of 
rice  with  stewed  fruit.  They  do  that  in  the  Philadel- 
phia schools,  where  they  have  penny  lunches. 

The  schools  in  Boston  and  some  here  give  a  light 
lunch  at  10  o'clock.  This  is  not  a  substitute  for  a  home 
meal,  but  simply  a  "  snack".  A  quarter  of  a  cup  of 
milk  and  two  crackers  for  one  cent  are  given  in 
Boston. 

Of  course  you  have  to  look  out  for  national  prejudices 
and  race  prejudices.  In  one  district  in  New  York  they 
had  to  have  a  meat  dish.  The  children  there  would 
not  touch  macaroni  or  anything  made  with  oil.  They 
could  not,  however,  serve  it  on  Friday. 

You  will  not  find  anything  made  with  beans  or  peas 
here,  because  they  are  not  easily  digested.  And  we 
don't  use  tomatoes  for  children.  Grown  people 
like  them,  but  children  seldom  do.  They  contain  very 
little  but  water,  some  salts,  and  flavoring.  Macaroni 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          157 

with  chopped  or  grated  cheese  is  about  as  cheap  as 
anything  you  can  get. 

Here  we  are  trying  to  give  a  lunch  which  is  equal 
to  one-half  of  what  these  children  need  for  a  whole 
day.  They  are  getting  enough  bread,  and  enough 
meat  of  some  kind,  with  butter.  Some  of  the  children 
are  getting  more  than  that  because  some  of  them  get 
more  to  eat  at  home  than  others.  I  don't  think  many 
of  them  are  very  well  fed.  The  bulk  of  the  food  here 
is  milk,  bread,  ice-cream,  and  butter.  To-day  they  had 
a  lettuce  sandwich  with  mayonnaise.  That  has  as 
high  a  food  value  as  a  plate  of  stew,  on  account  of  the 
oil  in  the  mayonnaise,  and  the  extra  butter.  Yester- 
day they  had  creamed  beef  and  baked  potato. 
Creamed  beef  with  the  sauce  costs  the  restaurant  people 
four  cents.  The  two  slices  of  bread  and  butter  cost 
two  cents.  The  milk  costs  two  or  two  and  one-half 
cents;  the  ice-cream  costs  two  and  one-half  cents, 
and  that  makes  up  the  ten  cents. 

Miss  Farrell  resumed  control  of  the  session,  saying: 
Every  phase  of  the  work  you  see  here  can  be  done  in 
your  own  town  with  just  the  conditions  that  prevail 
there,  and  with  very  little  cost.  Shall  I  tell  you  how 
we  started  it  in  New  York?  We  have  domestic  science, 
(cooking)  rooms  in  the  city  schools.  It  was  suggested, 
"Why  not  make  a  whole  tableful  of  macaroni  for  this 
class?  They  are  Italians.  Let  the  girls  cook  the 


158  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

macaroni  and  then  we  will  eat  it."  This  was  the  first 
school  luncheon  in  New  York  City.  That  is  one  way 
to  begin. 

Now  when  you  try  to  start  school  lunches  in  your 
home  town,  you  are  going  to  come  up  against  a  stone 
wall.  You  are  "taking  away  parental  responsibility." 
But  try  this  way, — say  to  your  class,  "  Bring  a  piece 
of  bread  to-morrow,"  and  if  your  experience  is  like 
mine,  they  won't  bring  the  bread.  They  won't  have 
it.  These  people  live  literally  from  hand  to  mouth. 
When  they  want  bread  for  supper  they  have  to  wait 
until  they  send  to  the  corner  store  for  it.  It  will  be 
a  real  obligation  for  many  of  these  mothers  to  have 
a  slice  of  bread  ready  for  the  boy  to  take  to  school. 
But  keep  at  it.  It  is  worth  while.  It  is  real  teaching. 

The  school  lunches  now  are  given  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  New  York  School  Lunch  Committee. 
They  are  quite  different,  and  attack  the  problem  from 
quite  a  different  angle.  They  have  found  that  there 
must  be  a  committee  to  look  after  the  feeding  of  these 
children,  and  to  observe  the  results. 

The  forces  of  the  school  should  all  work  toward  the 
same  end.  In  Chicago  the  boys  in  a  big  school  spent 
several  months  making  fireless  cookers.  The  lunch 
for  to-morrow  is  being  cooked  in  those  fireless  cookers 
to-day. 

The  work  which  you  have  to  do  next  concerns  the 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          159 

service  of  the  luncheon.  The  hardest  thing  you  have 
to  do  is  to  keep  your  hands  off,  just  sit  down  and  see 
that  the  children  do  it.  Don't  let  it  get  on  your  nerve. 
Never  mind  if  it  takes  two  hours,  let  them  do  it  them- 
selves. We  are  here  to  see  it  done,  and  if  it  takes  until 
to-morrow  for  Flora  to  get  the  table  square,  why,  we 
will  wait  until  to-morrow.  Next  week,  from  quarter 
of  twelve  to  quarter  past  twelve,  the  first  student  will 
attend;  the  second  person  will  come  on  from  one  until 
half  past  one  to  look  after  the  clearing  up.  You  will 
get  experience  that  is  valuable,  and  you  won't  be  giv- 
ing too  much  time  to  it.  You  cannot  learn  it  all  in  a 
day.  The  mistakes  that  the  children  make  will  help 
you  in  other  lines  of  work.  Don't  be  beguiled  into 
putting  your  hands  on  them.  Don't  let  it  get  on  your 
nerve,  because  the  truest  thing  anybody  ever  said  is, 
"We  learn  to  do  by  doing."  You  can't  keep  people 
from  making  their  own  mistakes. 

July  20 ,1911. 

As  the  class  assembled  for  the  second  formal  round 
table  Miss  Farell  said :  I  think  the  value  of  these  meet- 
ings lies  entirely  in  the  amount  of  discussion  which 
they  open  up.  Now  you  have  seen  during  the  past 
week  two  of  the  most  interesting  pieces  of  work  that 
we  do  in  special  classes,  and  unless  that  work  has 
suggested  hundreds  of  questions,  I  feel  that  we  have 


160  BACKWARD    CHILDREN. 

failed.  Perhaps  you  think,  as  one  teacher  thought  who 
was  here  last  week,  that  she  was  expected  to  criticise 
what  she  saw.  Remember,  there  are  two  kinds  of 
criticism,  destructive  and  constructive.  We  want  both 
kinds  of  criticism  from  you.  The  thought  that  you 
don't  know  how  to  use  the  saw  yourself  need  not 
interfere  at  all  with  your  asking  questions.  You  are 
not  interested  and  I  am  not  interested  now  in  the 
technical  use  of  the  saw.  We  are  only  interested  in 
why  we  give  a  saw  to  a  child.  If  you  say  over  and 
over  again,  "Why  did  you  do  that,  why  didn't  you 
do  this?"  you  are  getting  something  out  of  your  obser- 
vation work.  That's  the  kind  of  thing  that  is  going 
to  make  it  worth  while  to  you. 

Consider  the  sense  training  we  have  been  doing. 
When  you  get  back  to  your  different  towns  and  try 
to  put  in  this  sense  training,  you  will  be  swamped, — 
absolutely,  literally  swamped.  You  want  to  know  why 
we  do  this,  why  we  do  that,  and  what  we  do  first.  Is 
there  any  difference  between  the  work  you  offer  to 
this  child,  and  to  the  other  one,  and  why  do  you  offer 
it? 

I  have  a  series  of  questions  here  which  I  will  keep 
until  later.  Now  what  has  been  suggested  to  you,  or 
what  question  has  come  into  your  mind  as  the  result 
of  any  one  thing  you  have  seen  this  week? 

Q.    Do  you  have  this  sense  training  every  day? 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          161 

A.  Not  every  day.  Now  I  will  ask  you,  why  do  we 
have  lessons  in  sense  training? 

Another  student  answered,  To  train  the  attention. 

A.  Yes,  but  we  might  do  that  in  other  ways.  Why 
do  we  give  sense  training?  To  train  the  senses!  If 
you  know  Seguin's  book,  you  know  that  in  every 
feebleminded  child  there  is  some  potentiality  of  nor- 
mality. The  difference  is  a  difference  of  degree  and 
not  of  kind.  The  child  has  it  in  him  to  grow,  to  blos- 
som. A  normal  child  blossoms.  Whether  or  not  Dr. 
Seguin  was  right,  doesn't  concern  us.  What  does 
concern  us  is  that  these  children  are  living  in  the 
world.  They  are  interested  in  certain  affairs  at  home. 
They  are,  or  should  be,  familiar  with  certain  odors, 
with  certain  sights  and  sounds  and  touch  impres- 
sions. The  teacher  of  a  backward  child  must  d<ter- 
mine  just  what  the  content  of  his  little  brain  is.  How 
many  years  a  child  may  eat  sugar,  and  never  use  the 
word  sweet!  How  many  years  these  children  have 
used  vinegar  at  home,  and  never  used  the  word  sour! 
They  may  know  the  word  vinegar,  but  not  the  word 
sour.  And  the  same  with  bitter.  Now  we  want  the 
discrimination,  and  we  want  the  word  that  name  the 
discrimination.  That,  in  a  few  words,  is  the  reason 
for  sense  training,  and  the  length  of  time  it  continues 
depends  entirely  upon  the  child. 

In  this  work  you  will  begin  with  the  strikingly  dif- 


162  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

ferent  sensations.  You  will  not  give  him  gradations  of 
sweetness,  for  instance,  or  gradations  of  the  same  tone. 
Give  him  touch  with  motion,  and  let  him  get  the  idea 
of  coarseness.  In  this  work  you  want  the  opportunities 
for  large  discriminations,  particularly  when  the  work 
is  elementary. 

Q.    Take  Russell,  what  senses  are  you  training  now? 

A.  All  of  them,  to  some  extent,  particularly  touch, 
and  taste,  and  smell.  I  would  not  ever,  with  any 
child,  train  one  sense  at  the  expense  of  the  others. 
Russell  will  have  work  in  all  lines.  You  have  seen  him 
in  physical  training.  You  have  seen  him  in  manual 
training.  You  have  seen  him  in  corrective  gymnastics. 
You  have  seen  him  in  beginning  reading,  which  com- 
bines most  of  these  things.  Russell  is  getting  everything 
in  this  work  that  any  other  child  gets.  Here  again 
it  is  a  difference  of  degree  and  not  of  kind  in  the  matter 
of  training. 

When  I  tell  you  that  out  of  the  first  small  class  for 
backward  children  in  the  city  of  New  York  have 
grown  the  problem  of  immigration  and  hundreds  of 
other  problems, — that  out  of  the  question  of  decent 
work  for  special  classes  for  backward  children,  have 
grown  classes  for  crippled  children,  for  the  blind,  for 
the  deaf,  for  the  anaemic,  for  the  tubercular, — you 
will  see  what  an  immensely  important  matter  it  is. 
Think  what  a  relief  it  would  be  for  you,  if  you  could 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          163 

take  all  the  anaemic  children  out  of  your  class  and  put 
them  into  one  place  and  give  them  work  suited  to 
them.  The  whole  question  is  one  of  close  classification, 
to  get  all  the  children  in  the  right  place. 

Instead  of  making  the  child  fit  the  conditions,  we 
must  make  conditions  fit  him.  Instead  of  making  the 
child  fit  the  school,  we  must  make  the  school  fit  the 
child.  Then  we  won't  have  truants.  We  won't  have 
juvenile  criminals.  We  will  have  fewer  loafers,  and 
tramps,  and  criminals,  and  bad  citizens  in  the  com- 
munity. If  you  will  go  back  to  your  home  town  and 
make  the  community  see  that  it  is  worth  while  to  take 
these  things  into  account,  that  it  will  save  them  money 
to  provide  for  special  classes,  then  they  will  listen  to 
you. 

Q.  I  regret  so  much  that  I  often  have  to  neglect 
my  best  pupils,  while  giving  time  to  the  duller  ones. 
Does  this  harm  them? 

A.  I  hardly  think  it  would.  It  means  loss  of  oppor- 
tunity, but  no  positive  injury.  The  bright  boy  will 
find  expression.  There  is  no  trick  in  teaching  a  bright 
child.  They  learn  in  spite  of  us.  The  schools  do 
nothing  for  them.  No,  in  the  case  of  your  children, 
there  would  be  no  pathological  retardation.  There 
would  be,  however,  loss  of  opportunity. 

In  New  York  we  have  special  classes  for  bright  chil- 
dren, where  they  will  do  three  terms'  work  in  two  terms, 


164  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

giving  them  a  chance  to  go  ahead  as  fast  as  they  can 
go.  That  again  is  coming  as  a  result  of  these  special 
classes.  The  argument  which  will  reach  school  boards 
and  men  of  affairs  is  that  of  economy,  "See  what  you 
are  losing.  These  are  the  children  who  are  going  to 
be  the  leaders  of  the  next  generation,  and  they  are 
being  neglected  because  I  have  to  give  my  time  to  the 
others." 

Q.  Does  Miss  Walsh  have  any  particular  method 
of  teaching  articulation,  except  infinite  patience? 

A.  Yes.  In  the  beginning  the  mechanism  of  voice 
is  the  particular  thing  aimed  for. 

Q.    Is  that  the  same  thing  as  phonetics? 

A.  Not  in  the  way  phonetics  are  generally  taught. 
That  is  not  of  much  use.  You  will  have  to  consider 
what  Dr.  Stanley  Hall  calls  "tongue  gymnastics".  You 
have  to  show  the  children  how  to  make  the  sounds. 
Flora  cannot  say  Z;  she  cannot  say  Zo,  she  says  wo. 
All  the  patience  in  the  world  wouldn't  do  any  good  un- 
less Flora  is  enabled  to  put  her  tongue  back  of  the 
teeth  to  say  lo.  The  best  way  to  get  the  articulation 
work  is  to  visit  the  schools  for  the  deaf,  not  where  they 
use  the  manual  alphabet,  but  where  they  teach  by  the 
oral  method.  There  are  several  books  that  will  help 
you.  I  never  hesitate  to  recommend  Miss  Sullivan's 
book  on  Helen  Keller, — see  the  infinite  patience,  and 
the  thousand  and  one  ways  she  found  to  present  the 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          165 

same  fact.  I  would  also  read  Howe's  book  on  Laura 
Bridgeman,  to  get  some  idea  of  his  point  of  view. 

You  want  to  study  first,  the  anatomy  and  physiology 
of  the  vocal  organs.  You  will  have  to  know  the  mech- 
anism of  voice.  Visit  schools  for  deaf-mutes,  and  this 
will  be  enough  and  more  than  enough  to  work  on  next 
year.  There  is,  of  course,  a  sequence  in  the  way  tones 
are  taken  up.  You  will  find  this  set  forth  in  several 
books. 

We  will  take  up  the  question  of  articulation,  however, 
after  the  observation  in  that  subject.  I  am  a  little  sur- 
prised that  you  have  not  spoken  of  the  reading.  What 
do  you  think  of  the  reading  for  that  little  group?  I 
don't  care  so  much, — Miss  Walsh  doesn't  care  so  much 
about  the  work,  but  we  want  to  know  whether  you 
would  do  it,  and  why.  We  are  only  showing  you  how 
it  would  be  done  if  we  made  such  a  mistake  as  to  try 
to  teach  those  children  to  read.  Now  it  is  wrong,  abso- 
lutely wrong,  genetically  wrong,  to  teach  those  children 
to  read,  with  the  exception  of  Henry,  and  Susan,  and 
perhaps  Abraham.  We  would  leave  out  Oswald  and 
Russell,  and  Clara,  and  Flora,  these  four  children  whom 
we  would  not  teach  to  read  now,  perhaps  never.  I 
don't  know  where  you  are  ever  going  to  get  with  it. 
It  is  a  question  of  value.  I  believe  that  with  any 
child  it  is  wrong  to  teach  reading  unless  you  can  give 
him  a  love  for  reading,  a  desire  to  read  Now  with 


166  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

Russell  that  can  never  be  done.  He  isn't  going  to  live 
with  books. 

Personally,  I  think  we  have  an  entirely  wrong  notion 
of  education.  I  think  that  what  you  saw  here  this 
afternoon, — the  children  laughing,  and  playing,  and 
marching  to  music, — that  is  education.  They  are  hav- 
ing a  good  time,  and  they  are  learning  to  live  in  the 
world.  Those  children  ought  to  be  doing  big  things  in 
a  big  way.  They  ought  to  be  getting  sense  impres- 
sions every  day,  and  in  order  to  get  sense  impressions 
they  must  not  have  too  fine  discriminations  presented 
to  them;  they  ought  not  to  be  required  to  use  the 
finer  muscles  of  the  eyes  and  the  fingers.  Think  of  the 
age  man  was  when  he  began  to  wrestle  with  the  printed 
page !  I  don't  know  about  your  ancestors,  but  I  can  look 
back  to  mine, — strong,  able-bodied  men,  who  worked 
hard  with  their  hands.  It  is  only  in  very  recent  years 
that  we  have  got  all  tied  up  in  this  matter  of  reading 
and  writing  and  number,  and  whether  or  not  we  will 
achieve  a  product  that  is  better  than  our  forefathers, 
is  a  question. 

With  these  little  people,  handicapped  in  mind  and 
body,  I  think  it  is  wrong  to  ask  them  to  manipulate 
those  organs  and  muscles  which  have  developed  late 
in  the  history  of  human  kind.  To  use  those  muscles 
of  the  eye  which  discriminate  the  "hen-tracks"  on 
the  printed  page,  is  to  make  a  fine  and  difficult 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          167 

discrimination.     But  what  about  the  parents?     The 

parents  want  their  children  to  be  taught  to  read  and 

write.    They  don't  like  to  think  that  there  is  anything 

wrong  with  their  children, — that  they  are  different 

from  other  children  in  any  way.    Well,  that  is  true  on 

superficial    acquaintance.      But    when    you    get    the 

mother's  confidence,  she  will  tell  you  that  James  was 

four  years  old  before  he  began  to  walk,  and  six  years 

old  before  he  began  to  talk.     You  see  then  that  he 

is  five  years  behind  his  age.     If  the  parents  see  that 

you  know  more  about  the  child  than  they  do,  if  you  can 

interpret  the  child's  history  in  terms  of  the  kind  of 

school  work  he  wants,  they  will  trust  you.     If  you 

say,  "But  he  is  such  an  interesting  boy.    He  doesn't 

do  things  as  other  boys  do.    What  kind  of  a  baby  was 

he?"  the  mother  will  have  to  tell  you.    Not  that  she 

wants  to  tell  all  his  shortcomings,  but  she  will  tell  you. 

Give  them  all  the  books  they  want,  all  they  can  carry 

home,  but  at  the  same  tune,  my  school  work  would  be 

the  work  I  knew  that  the  child  needed*    The  school 

teaching  of  the  future  is  going  to  be  as  much  specialized 

and  as  much  based  upon  anatomy  and  physiology  as 

medicine  is  to-day.    We  shall  have  to  know  anatomy, 

and  physiology,  and  psychology.    The  reason  people 

here  in  this  laboratory  get  the  information  is  because 

the  parents  have  confidence  in  them,  because  they 

say  right  away,  "This  man  is  a  psychologist.     He 


168  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

knows."  You  have  to  get  the  same  thing  in  the  atti- 
tude of  the  parents  toward  you,  and  then  you  can  do  as 
you  like  with  them. 

Don't  misunderstand  me.  I  pick  out  of  all  the 
children  here,  those  four  that  Miss  Walsh  has,  and  say, 
"  I  wouldn't  teach  them  to  read."  I  would  give  Russell 
a  saw  or  a  shovel,  and  let  him  go  out  and  do  things. 
The  rest  I  would  teach  to  read.  I  would  let  every 
child  have  every  bit  of  training  he  can  get. 

Q.     Can  you  recommend  some  books  on  gymnastics? 

A.  Dr.  Mackenzie  has  a  book  on  gymnastics,  and 
Dr.  Gulick,  and  Miss  Bancroft,  of  New  York,  has  several 
books. 

Q.  How  long  would  you  keep  up  exercises  like  walk- 
ing through  the  ladder?  Would  you  keep  it  up  after 
the  children  can  do  it? 

A  Yes.  There  is  fun  in  it.  It  is  one  of  the  simplest 
exercises  for  gait.  It  makes  a  child  pick  up  his  feet. 

Q.  What  would  you  do  if  you  were  not  successful 
in  sense  training? 

A.  If  a  child  doesn't  discriminate  well  in  the  sense 
training,  there  is  only  one  thing  to  do,  and  that  is  to 
make  the  difference  greater  and  greater. 

I  would  recommend  everybody  here  to  take  a  course 
in  laboratory  psychology.  Get  the  children  to  make 
these  discriminations,  sweet,  sour,  and  bitter,  and  get 
them  to  name  them.  Keep  right  at  it, — to-morrow 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          169 

and  the  next  day  and  the  next  day.  Usually  if  you  ask, 
"Did  you  ever  taste  it  before?  Do  you  ever  have  to 
take  medicine?  How  does  it  taste?"  the  child  will  say 
"bitter".  The  substance  to-day  was  bitter, — it 
happened  to  be  quinine.  Of  course  there  comes  a  time 
when,  if  after  a  good  fair  chance  he  doesn't  say  "bitter," 
you  will  have  to  tell  him,  for  he  simply  doesn't  know. 

Q.    What  things  would  you  use  for  sense  training? 

A.  I  would  use  the  simple  things  around  him  in  the 
home.  I  would  not  take  strange  things.  He  might 
know  odors  of  flowers,  or  he  might  not.  But  he  would 
know  the  odor  of  coffee,  and  kerosene,  and  probably 
peppermint.  And  so  with  the  familiar  sights  and 
sounds. 

In  the  sense  training  there  is  a  sequence.  I  am 
surprised  that  nobody  has  remarked  a  sequence  in  the 
exercises  that  we  have  had  this  week.  To-morrow  we 
will  take  vision.  There  is  a  sequence  in  the  way  the 
senses  develop,  and  in  all  sense  training  you  must 
follow  that  sequence.  The  sense  that  develops  first 
is  more  primitive,  has  more  back  of  it,  than  the  ones 
which  develop  later,  as  sight  and  hearing. 

After  all  is  said  and  done,  we  must  train  these 
children  in  the  natural  way,  and  we  fail  only  when 
we  go  about  it  in  the  artificial  way,  the  way  men  have 
arranged  that  children  shall  be  taught.  They  have 
said,  We  must  teach  all  children  six  years  old  to  read, 


170  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

all  children  twelve  years  old  to  speak  French,  and  so 
on.  The  only  thing  for  you  to  do  is  to  cut  loose  and 
bring  all  the  science  you  have  at  your  command  to 
bear  on  this  problem  in  a  scientific  way.  There  is  a 
natural  way  in  which  children  develop,  and  you  want 
to  find  it,  and  follow  that  way. 

Q.     How  do  you  account  for  the  change  in  Morgan? 

A.  For  one  thing  he  knows  us  better,  and  for  another 
thing  we  know  him  better,  and  that's  all  there  is  to  it. 
We  are  all  very  fond  of  him.  Morgan  has  a  good  deal 
of  sense.  You  can't  flatter  him.  When  he  showed  me 
his  basket  he  said,  "It  isn't  very  good,  is  it?"  I  said, 
"It's  pretty  good."  He  said,  "Naw,  it  isn't  any  good 
at  all."  Mrs.  Pfeiffer  went  down  town  yesterday  to 
get  reed  heavy  enough  so  that  he  could  not  make  a 
mistake.  That  basket  is  a  very  good  picture  of  Morgan. 
Now  with  the  heavier  material,  plus  the  experience  of 
making  the  first  basket,  he  will  do  better. 

Q.  What  is  the  value  of  breathing  exercises  before 
oral  reading? 

A.  It  is  a  matter  of  voice.  Have  you  noticed  how 
many  monotones  we  have  in  this  class?  To  do  away 
with  these  monotones  we  are  giving  the  children  voice 
placing.  You  have  heard  Mrs.  Pfeiffer  bring  them  from 
middle  C  to  the  octave.  We  can't  do  very  much  in 
six  weeks,  but  we  can  show  you  how  the  thing  is  to  be 
done.  You  notice  I  said  "  oral  reading".  Oral  reading 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          171 

is  quite  a  different  thing  from  reading.  Silent  reading 
is  a  very  good  thing  for  these  children.  But  oral  read- 
ing is  reading  plus  expression. 

The  production  of  voice  is  the  chief  thing  to  be  con- 
sidered in  oral  reading.  You  must  have  voice  produc- 
tion under  control,  and  that  means  that  the  breathing 
must  be  under  control.  It  must  be  from  the  diaphragm. 
That  is  why  we  give  the  children  breathing  exercises. 
I  wouldn't  let  them  hold  the  breath  too  long.  It  is 
likely  to  strain  the  heart.  You  see  again,  you  can't 
know  too  much  physiology  in  this  work. 

Really,  whatever  psychologists  say,  we  school 
teachers  are  at  the  top.  We  are  the  apex  of  the 
whole  thing,  because  we  must  have  all  these  sciences 
at  our  command  before  we  can  train  these  minds  in 
the  right  way. 


July  27  , 

Miss  Farrell  opened  her  round  table  conference  by 
saying:  Now  what  are  the  questions  to-day  relating  to 
the  work  with  clay?  You  have  seen  clay  work,  as  well 
as  articulation  exercises. 

Q.  I  am  sorry  I  have  not  been  able  to  see  any  of  the 
clay.  How  do  you  begin? 

A.  We  begin  with  the  plaque,  smoothing  the  clay 
out  flat.  Next  we  trace  the  outline  of  a  leaf  on  the 
plaque.  This  gives  precision  of  movement,  and  it 


172  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

demands  concentration.  When  the  clay  was  offered 
the  children  framed  up  a  plaque.  Then  they  put  a  leaf 
on  it  which  they  had  picked  up  on  the  grass,  and  went 
around  it  with  a  tooth  pick.  The  thing  was  to  put 
the  tooth  pick  down  just  at  the  edge  of  the  leaf.  That 
is  concrete.  That  exercise  was  given  for  the  sake  of  the 
precision  in  movement  that  was  required  of  the  child. 
If  you  will  look  at  the  work  on  the  table  you  will  see 
in  very  many  cases  the  child  needed  this  training  in 
precision. 

You  will  remember,  of  course,  that  we  have  given 
this  work  for  you.  When  you  see  us  working  with 
clay  in  the  flat  one  day  and  in  the  round  the  next,  and 
the  next  day  yet  another  type  of  work,  I  want  you  to 
remember  that  it  is  for  you,  to  show  you  the  sequence, 
not  because  it  is  best  for  the  child.  If  we  considered 
only  the  child's  good,  we  would  spend  a  great  deal  more 
time  on  each  step.  In  your  own  classes  you  will  take 
a  longer  time  to  do  the  plaque  work.  You  cannot  do 
it  in  a  day.  Nor  would  you  be  satisfied  with  one 
lesson  in  the  round.  You  would  have  many  lessons. 
The  work  shown  this  week  should  extend  over  a  whole 
term,  consisting  of  five  months.  Our  children  must  have 
many  lessons  with  the  clay  which  require  precision  and 
delicacy  of  touch. 

Q.  Could  the  mixing  up  of  the  clay  be  done  by  the 
teacher? 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          173 

A.  Yes,  it  is  only  because  we  have  so  many  men 
about  here  that  we  have  it  done  for  us.  In  New  York 
the  janitors  do  it. 

Q.     What  particular  kind  of  clay  do  you  use? 

A.  Clay  flour.  It  can  be  bought  at  Milton  Bradley's. 
Never  use  clay  the  second  time;  this  for  hygienic 
reasons.  Throw  everything  away  that  is  left  over. 
There  is  now,  for  rich  people  to  buy,  a  prepared  clay, 
which  is  the  nicest  to  use.  It  costs  twenty-five  cents  a 
pound. 

Q.     Do  you  mean  Plasticine? 

A.  No,  I  mean  prepared  clay.  Plasticine  never 
hardens,  and  so  cannot  be  preserved.  The  child  likes 
to  do  clay  modelling,  but  it's  just  the  doing  of  it  that 
he  likes, — it  is  good  fun.  In  these  little  paper-weights 
the  leaf  has  been  colored  green  and  the  whole  thing 
shellacked  over  to  make  it  more  permanent. 

I  think  that  of  all  the  materials  for  manual  work  clay 
offers  the  greatest  opportunity.  When  Russell  could 
not  saw  to  a  line,  he  could  model  a  ball.  He  could  not 
make  a  beaker  this  afternoon,  but  he  could  make,  as 
he  said,  a  lot  of  potatoes.  I  like  the  clay  very  much 
for  what  it  does  for  the  children.  They  have  to  get  a 
certain  precision  in  their  touch,  and  a  certain  delicacy 
in  their  fingers  to  model.  And  how  near  it  is  to  the 
interests  of  the  young  child!  Notice  a  child  in  the 
country,  sitting  beside  the  road,  making  mud-pies. 


174  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

These  children  of  ours  are  really  very  young,  no  matter 
how  long  they  have  lived. 

Dr.  Holmes  remarked:  Clay  is  good  for  another 
reason.  There  is  something  final  in  sawing  to  a  line, 
but  clay  gives  the  child  another  chance,  and  another, 
and  another. 

Miss  Farrell  agreed,  and  continued:  You  have  seen 
the  children  working  at  the  sand  tray,  packing  the  sand 
into  little  dishes  and  turning  it  out.  Some  of  the 
children  could  not  even  do  that  at  first.  They  packed 
it  in  too  loosely,  but  they  could  try  again  and  again. 
If  you  don't  mind  having  sand  on  the  floor,  the  sand 
tray  is  a  very  good  thing. 

Q.  Isn't  it  remarkable,  how  well  these  children 
model? 

A.  Yes,  they  do  very  well,  particularly  in  the  Indian 
pottery.  The  thing  which  interests  me  very  much  in 
teaching  this  work  is  the  principle  of  correlation, 
letting  one  thing  grow  out  of  another  and  everything 
out  of  the  natural  interests  of  the  child.  You  will  find 
that  the  children  can  make  very  presentable  Indian 
bowls,  color  them  and  put  Indian  designs  on  them 
See  that  cup !  It  is  quite  as  good  as  one  that  you  would 
bring  all  the  way  from  Arizona  and  prize  very  much. 
Unfortunately,  we  can't  find  a  kiln  in  New  York  City 
where  they  bake  this  kind  of  clay.  The  thing  is  to  have 
a  kiln  hi  the  school,  where  you  can  bake  the  pottery. 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          175 

That  adds  greatly  to  the  interest  of  the  boys  in  their 
work.  At  Montclair  they  have  such  a  kiln.  They  are 
expensive,  they  have  to  be  built  in,  and  somebody  has 
to  run  them.  The  heat  is  supplied  by  kerosene,  which 
drops  in,  a  drop  at  a  time,  and  somebody  has  to  watch 
it.  It  is  dangerous,  as  well  as  expensive. 

We  have  not  yet  taken  up  the  coil  work  in  clay.  That 
is  a  type  of  work  we  are  going  to  begin  to-morrow. 
This  bowl  was  a  perfectly  flat  piece,  and  the  idea  was  to 
work  it  up  in  this  fashion.  Some  of  them  made  a  ball 
and  tried  to  hollow  it  out,  but  the  idea  was  to  work  it 
up  from  a  flat  piece.  Sculpture  of  any  kind  is  not  taking 
out;  it  is  putting  on.  A  man  modelling  a  portrait 
head  does  not  take  out  the  shadows,  he  simply  builds 
up  the  lights.  We  don't  want  the  children  to  dig  the 
clay  out,  but  to  get  the  result  by  evening  up  and 
modelling  the  thing.  This  type  of  work  calls  for  a  kind 
of  co-ordination  and  a  kind  of  imagination  that  the 
other  doesn't.  Most  of  the  children  did  make  a  ball 
first,  but  that  was  not  the  intention  at  all  in  these 
hollow  round  objects. 

The  children  should  have  the  opportunity  to  do  free 
work  in  the  clay.  To-day  they  made  these  things  for 
the  play  house.  This  cup  isn't  half  bad.  You  could 
go  to  a  museum  and  rave  for  ten  minutes  over  an 
Indian  cup  not  a  bit  better  than  that.  This  carrot 
will  be  colored  with  water  colors  and  shellacked. 


176  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

Little  Abraham  made  it.  He  hasn't  had  much  of  an 
opportunity  in  anything,  but  he  is  a  very  smart  little 
boy.  He  is  startling  Dr.  Twitmyer  and  everybody 
else.  They  would  not  have  believed  that  he  had  it  in 
him.  Abraham  has  skill  in  modelling,  which  is  unusual 
for  a  Russian.  I  thought  that  Giovanni  and  his 
brother,  who  is  visiting  to-day,  would  do  this  work 
very  well  because  they  are  Italians,  but  they  didn't. 
In  New  York  the  Italian  children  do  this  work  very 
well.  But  all  Vanni  could  make  was  a  ball,  and  his 
brother  could  not  make  even  that.  I  never  saw  children 
use  clay  and  be  as  clean  about  it  as  these  children  have 
been.  You  won't  get  anythng  like  the  same  result. 

To-day  there  were  two  classes  of  objects  given. 
These,  which  would  group  themselves  rather  closely, 
are  the  round  ones.  The  higher  grade  children  were 
given  the  elliptical  objects,  and  the  less  capable  children, 
the  round.  These  things  the  children  knew,  and  they 
were  easy  to  obtain.  That  was  the  only  purpose  in 
selecting  them. 

Q.     Do  you  ever  make  type  forms? 

A.  I  never  do  that.  That  is  a  fallacy.  There  was 
a  time  when  people  thought  we  were  crazy  to  give 
children  dolls'  houses  to  make,  for  it  is  well  known  that 
children  of  that  age  can't  plane  or  saw  to  a  line.  But 
we  don't  care  about  the  line.  What  we  are  interested 
in  is  the  child.  The  same  shifting  of  the  viewpoint 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          177 

is  to  be  seen  all  through  the  schools.  We  have  passed 
from  technique  to  the  child  who  says  he  "wants  to  make 
something  next."  We  don't  care  how  many  mistakes 
he  makes.  A  gentleman  this  morning  said  he  was  glad 
to  see  a  teacher  who  would  stand  for  such  crude  work 
as  that.  That  is  the  highest  kind  of  compliment. 
You  have  gone  to  school  exhibits  and  seen  work  which 
you  know  couldn't  have  been  done  by  the  children. 
Everything  you  see  here  is  crude  enough  to  convince 
you  that  the  child  did  it. 

After  all,  we  learn  to  do  by  doing,  and  we  do  not  learn 
in  any  other  way.  When  you  give  children  type  forms 
to  make  in  clay,  you  give  them  something  formal  and 
far  removed  from  life.  If  you  really  wanted  to  give 
them  a  prism,  it  would  be  better  to  say,  "  Let's  make 
a  chimney."  You  would  get  all  the  good  of  modelling  a 
prism,  and  you  would  have  the  interest  of  the  children. 
Take  the  child's  interest  as  the  point  of  departure. 
Let  him  do  the  thing  he  is  interested  in. 

Q.  Would  you  only  take  two  children  at  a  time  for 
articulation,  or  more,  or  how  many? 

A.  If  you  had  twenty,  and  they  all  needed  the  same 
work  you  could  have  a  large  group.  You  have  to  group 
according  to  the  defects  to  be  corrected.  For  example, 
there  is  no  reason  in  the  world  why  you  could  not  group 
children  who  have  trouble  with  the  initial  letters 
together,  and  give  exercises  on  the  initials.  Then  if 


178  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

you  had  the  good  luck  to  have  all  the  rest  of  the  children 
with  defects  at  the  other  end  of  the  word,  you  could 
group  them.  The  ideal  thing  is  individual  work,  for 
what  we  are  trying  to  do  in  articulation  is  to  uproot 
bad  habits  and  plant  good  ones.  I  would  give  them 
all  phonic  work,  but  the  formal  articulation  work  I 
would  give  only  to  the  children  who  need  it. 

Q.  If  you  had  children  whom  you  could  not  teach 
to  read,  and  they  spoke  indistinctly,  would  you  give 
them  articulation? 

A.  Yes,  I  would  give  every  child  who  is  going  to 
be  in  school, — every  child  with  a  speech  defect, — I 
would  give  him  a  chance  to  get  good  articulation. 
Now  where  the  defect  is  inside  his  head,  and  you  can't 
get  at  it,  I  wouldn't  spend  time  on  that.  Russell, 
of  course,  is  an  institutional  case.  Flora  is  a  middle 
grade  imbecile.  Miss  Walsh  would  not  bother  with 
them.  I  suppose  Flora  will  say  wo  instead  of  lo  to  the 
end  of  her  life.  You  can't  do  anything  with  them. 

Q.  One  of  the  boys,  I  notice,  could  not  tell  red  or 
green.  Do  you  think  any  amount  of  training  could 
bring  that  about? 

A.  Oh,  yes.  He  could  learn  that  because  he  is 
not  color  blind.  That  boy  is  really  a  hopeful  case  for  a 
special  class.  He  is  really  worth  while.  The  matter  of 
not  telling  color  is  not  so  important,  if  he  can  match  it. 
In  the  color  work  there  are  two  things  to  keep  in  mind, — 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          179 

can  he  match  color?  can  he  name  it?  A  child  who  can 
match  color  is  going  to  get  the  thing  right. 

Q.  Would  you  give  as  much  time  to  training  all 
the  senses,  the  sense  of  sight  as  of  touch,  for  example? 

A.  I  can't  say  how  much  time  I  would  give  to  any 
line  of  training.  It  would  all  depend  on  the  child. 

Q.  Don't  we  use  the  sense  of  sight  more  in  getting 
our  knowledge  of  the  external  world? 

A.  Some  persons  do.  After  they  come  to  a  certain 
point,  all  normal  persons  do.  But  when  you  remember 
what  the  psychologists  tell  us,  that  all  knowledge  is 
the  building  up  of  the  sense  of  touch,  that  without 
touch  we  would  never  have  a  sense  of  form,  that  vision 
alone  never  determines  form,  we  see  that  this  holds 
an  idea  for  teachers  of  defective  children.  If  they  can't 
get  knowledge  through  the  eye,  then  they  must  get 
it  through  the  sense  of  touch.  I  think  if  all  teachers 
knew  more  about  how  the  race  has  developed  up  to 
the  point  where  it  now  stands,  we  would  know  more 
about  teaching.  Think  of  the  thousands  of  years  we 
did  not  depend  on  sight.  Think  of  the  Indian,  who 
can  tell  by  laying  his  ear  to  the  ground  whether  a  horse 
or  a  man  is  coming,  miles  away.  Indeed,  our  whole 
human  brain  is  the  result  of  the  development  of  the 
hand.  This  morning  I  was  saying  that  the  exercise 
on  the  ladder  is  not  for  the  purpose  of  making  the  child 
draw  himself  up;  we  give  the  exercise  to  afford  the 


180  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

child  an  opportunity  to  oppose  his  fingers.  Those  of 
you  who  think  in  biological  terms  will  remember  that 
a  great  epoch  in  the  history  of  man  was  marked  when 
our  simian  ancestors  opposed  the  thumb  to  the  fingers 
and  so  were  able  to  grasp.  Why  does  a  little  baby  tip 
over  so  many  glasses  of  milk?  Because  he  has  not 
learned  to  grasp.  Notice  the  first  young  chiM  you  see, — 
that's  the  thing  to  hold  to.  In  this  exercise  we  want 
to  cultivate  the  power  of  grasp.  It  is  just  as  funda- 
mental as  the  sense  of  touch,  and  it  goes  so  far  into 
the  making  of  the  human  brain  that  we  ought  never 
to  neglect  it.  I  don't  know  whether  Miss  Walsh,  when 
she  was  getting  the  children  to  keep  their  places  by 
holding  on  to  the  ropes,  thought  of  this,  but  it  came 
into  my  mind  that  there  is  the  same  grasp,  the  oppos- 
ing of  the  thumb  and  the  fingers  again. 

Q.     Is  there  any  good  book  about  handicrafts? 

A.  A  good  book  is  Miss  Dopp's  "The  Place  of 
Industry  in  Education." 

A  student  remarked,  referring  to  the  fundamental 
nature  of  the  sense  of  touch:  I  know  a  bMnd  woman, 
who  has  been  blind  since  she  was  a  baby,  who  can 
fry  eggs  without  burning  them,  and  go  about  her 
pantiy  and  keep  everything  in  order,  and  she  says 
she  does  it  by  the  sense  of  feeling. 

Miss  Fairell  continued:  If  you  read  Dr.  Drummond's 
book  on  "The  Ascent  of  Man,"  you  will  begin  to  appre- 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          181 

ciate  the  countless  generations  we  have  been  coming 
up  from  the  worm  to  the  point  where  we  are  now,  and 
the  changes  that  have  been  wrought  since  the  day  of 
the  worm  until  we  are  as  well  organized  as  we  are  now. 
Add  to  your  list  John  Fiske's  book  for  suggestions  on 
the  same  line.  Those  of  you  who  have  not  read  Dar- 
win's great  book  on  the  "  Origin  of  Species,"  read  it 
with  this  idea  in  mind,  and  Huxley's  books, — any  of 
the  great  books  on  evolution.  You  don't  have  to 
believe  all  that  is  in  them,  but  you  want  to  get  their 
point  of  view.  The  sense  of  grasp  is  one  thing  to  be 
traced  out,  hearing  is  another,  taste  and  smell  are 
others.  Then  you  have  the  thing  right  in  the  palm  of 
your  hand.  That's  what  you  must  do  for  these  children. 
You  must  give  them  the  opportunities.  Most  children 
have  the  opportunities  for  development  in  themselves, 
but  these  children  have  to  have  the  opportunities  made 
for  them. 

Think  how  old  the  human  race  was  before  it  began 
to  wrestle  with  little  black  and  white  specks  on  paper! 
Think  when  printing  was  invented.  So  far  as  we  know, 
men  in  the  fourteenth  century  were  as  highly  developed 
as  we  are  now,  yet  the  great  mass  of  the  people  were 
not  so  well  educated.  They  did  not  have  access  to 
books.  It  was  not  until  after  the  invention  of  printing 
that  the  common  people  had  any  use  for  the  finer  muscles 
of  the  eye.  What  are  four  hundred  years?  They  are 


182  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

as  yesterday,  and  we  teachers  are  forgetting  that  when 
we  ask  children  to  read  books.  We  are  asking  them  to 
use  the  finest  co-ordinations  and  those  most  recently 
acquired  in  the  history  of  man.  That  may  be  well 
enough  for  normally  organized  children,  not  for  ours, — 
they  cannot  do  things  so  well,  and  they  can't  finish 
them  neatly.  They  have  to  use  the  large,  crude  move- 
ments. They  have  to  do  the  things  that  primitive  man 
did,  and  do  them  in  a  primitive  way.  We  can't  ask 
them  to  use  the  finer  co-ordinations  of  more  highly 
developed  people.  That  is  the  great  reason  for  throw- 
ing the  school  books  out  of  the  window.  You  can't 
always  do  it.  We  can't  do  it  in  New  York.  But  I 
believe  it  is  the  thing  to  do.  Give  children  the  things 
to  do  which  are  fundamental  to  the  whole  human  race. 
Give  them  the  opportunity  for  touching,  for  smelling 
a  variety  of  things,  for  tasting  a  variety  of  things. 
When  it  comes  to  sight,  give  them  color,  light  and  dark- 
ness. Give  them  a  chance  to  see  the  big  things  of  color, 
and  don't  bring  them  to  the  finer  co-ordinations  of  using 
a  text-book  until  you  have  taught  them  through  these 
grosser  co-ordinations  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  times. 

Q.  Is  abdominal  breathing  the  breathing  for  chil- 
dren? 

Mrs.  Pfeiffer  answered:  To  get  the  diaphragmatic 
breathing  is  what  we  are  after,  but  you  can  do  that 
better  if  the  abdominal  muscles  are  strengthened. 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          183 

Miss  Farrell  continued:  You  know,  if  you  have 
studied  vocal  music,  the  first  thing  the  teacher  does  is 
to  put  your  breathing  right.  The  whole  matter  of 
diaphragmatic  breathing  is  to  get  better  control.  It 
isn't  for  the  sake  of  the  tone  that  these  exercises  are 
given.  It  is  for  control  and  concentration. 

Q.    How  many  pupils  ought  a  teacher  to  have? 

A.  In  New  York  City  we  have  fifteen  pupils  to  a 
class,  but  I  never  met  a  teacher  who,  if  asked  whether 
she  could  take  another  child,  would  not  say,  "I  would 
rather  have  him  than  let  him  wait.  He  will  be  easier 
to  train  now  than  he  will  be  after  he  has  been  waiting 
two  or  three  years  for  a  place."  This  work  is  something 
more  than  missionary  work, — it  is  preventing  the  neces- 
sity for  missionary  work.  It  is  saving.  Ours  is  a  work 
of  formation  rather  than  reformation.  When  you  save 
somebody  from  an  impending  danger  you  are  doing 
something  more  worth  while  than  when  you  fix  him  up 
after  he  has  been  through  the  fire.  The  special  class 
teacher  must  have  the  type  of  mind  which  will  lead  her  to 
say,  "I  can  do  more  for  this  boy  than  any  other  teacher 
in  this  school,  and  I  am  going  to  have  him,"  and  so  she 
has  sixteen,  eighteen,  even  twenty  children.  But  she 
ought  not  to  have  more  than  fifteen  in  the  class. 

Q.  Can  we  get  help  about  articulation  out  of  books 
for  teachers  of  deaf-mutes?  Is  that  too  specialized? 

A.    Not  at  all.    Any  school  for  the  deaf,  where  they 


184  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

teach  the  oral  method,  is  the  best  place  for  you  to 
learn  articulation  work.  Then  there  are  the  publica- 
tions of  the  Volta  Bureau  of  Washington,  Bell's  book 
on  "Visible  Speech/'  and  many  others  which  you  will 
find  by  consulting  the  catalogue  of  any  large  library. 

Q.  Is  there  any  reason  for  Miss  Walsh's  putting  the 
children's  hands  under  their  jaw  when  they  say  certain 
sounds? 

A.  To  get  the  vibration, — the  child  gets  the  idea 
better  if  he  feels  the  vibration. 

Q.     Is  there  any  particular  order  to  follow? 

A.  The  natural  order  is  the  order.  Go  back  to  the 
young  child  again.  Think  of  the  little  children  you 
know,  the  words  they  said  first.  Any  good  dictionary 
will  give  you  information  of  this  sort.  Greenough's 
Latin  Grammer  gives  the  sequence  of  labials,  dentals, 
palatals,  etc.  The  child  usually  says  Mama  first. 
Notice  whether  that  same  child  will  put  the  m  sound  at 
the  end  of  the  word,  and  when  he  does  it.  Child  psy- 
chology is  the  thing.  The  little  book,  "  First  Three 
Years  of  Childhood,"  and  the  book  by  Preyer,  "The 
Infant  Mind,"  and  "The  Senses  and  the  Will,"  and 
Professor  Baldwin's  account  of  his  own  child,  and 
Professor  Dearborn's  recently  published  monograph  on 
the  development  of  speech  in  his  own  child, — these  are 
all  good  books  for  you.  Look  in  any  library  under 
Child  Psychology,  or  Child  Linguistics,  and  you  will 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          185 

find  many  books  that  will  help  you.  But  the  thing  that 
will  help  most  is  to  think  of  the  children  you  have 
known,  and  arrange  the  words  that  the  child  said  first 
as  you  remember  them.  Analyse  them  into  initial, 
final,  and  intermediary  sounds. 

Q.  What  is  to  be  done  with  the  hopeless  cases?  Is 
the  teacher  to  keep  them  in  her  class  indefinitely? 

A.  One  cannot  decide  very  often  that  a  case  really 
is  hopeless  until  the  child  has  had  every  chance,  until 
every  effort  has  been  made  to  train  him.  One  should 
not  judge  too  hastily,  or  too  superficially.  The  special 
class  teacher  must  be  a  scientist  to  the  extent  of  sus- 
pending her  judgment.  She  must  say,  This  throws 
light  on  the  question,  but  it  is  not  final.  While  there 
is  life  there  is  hope.  We  cannot  grow  a  second  arm, 
but  in  the  developing  mind,  who  can  tell  what  is  going 
to  happen?  We  know  that  much  is  possible  in  the 
rebirth  of  adolescence;  there  is  much  to  hope  for  at 
that  time. 

There  is  going  to  be  a  great  change  when  this  work 
spreads  throughout  the  country,  and  you  are  the  people 
who  are  going  to  spread  it.  We  want  you  to  get  the 
point  of  view  of  special  class  work.  Here  are  twenty 
women  who  are  having  an  opinion  formed  on  the 
subject  of  backward  children,  and  you  will  go  back  to 
your  community,  and  you  will  help  to  mould  public 
opinion  there.  The  problem  will  present  itself  in  some 


186  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

way  like  this.  You  will  have  some  children  in  your 
class  who  don't  belong  there.  They  will  stay  year  after 
year,  and  learn  little.  Someone  will  say,  What  are  you 
going  to  do  with  them?  You  will  have  to  take  a  step 
forward  and  say,  Put  them  in  institutions.  Then  the 
people  will  say,  But  that  costs  money,  and  these  chil- 
dren could  earn  a  living;  let  that  boy  go  to  work, 
he  could  sweep  the  streets,  and  let  this  girl  go  to  work 
as  a  servant.  You  will  answer,  That's  all  very  true, 
but  he's  going  to  get  married,  and  she's  going  to  get 
married,  and  here  I  am  teaching  school,  and  I  am  going 
to  have  their  children  to  teach.  And  it  will  all  be  gone 
over  again,  and  those  children  will  marry  and  have 
children.  The  community  is  spending  its  money  to 
educate  them,  and  they  are  getting  no  good  of  it.  It  is 
spending  money  on  them  in  prisons,  and  almshouses, 
and  hospitals, — more  and  more  money.  Then  your 
friend  will  say,  Let  us  put  them  in  institutions.  And  you 
will  find  that  the  institutions  are  full  and  have  long 
waiting  lists.  They  will  have  to  build  more  institutions. 
And  even  when  the  children  do  at  last  get  into  an  insti- 
tution, an  ignorant  or  greedy  parent  can  come  and 
get  them  out  and  put  them  to  work.  After  a  while 
the  people  will  not  leave  it  for  a  feebleminded  father  or 
mother  to  say,  "No,  he  shan't  go  into  an  institution.  I 
can  take  care  of  my  own  boy."  As  sure  as  the  sun  sets 
to-night,  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  in  New  York 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          187 

state  we  will  have  a  commission  to  pass  upon  our  men- 
tally defective  children  and  send  them  to  an  institution, 
just  as  we  have  a  commission  to  pass  upon  criminals 
and  small-pox  cases,  and  other  persons  dangerous  to 
the  public.  And  here  I  will  be  a  prophet.  I  believe 
that  within  ten  years  in  New  York  state  we  will  have 
definite  compulsory  care  for  children  unable  to  get 
along  in  school.  A  great  scheme  has  been  worked  out 
to  provide  for  almost  any  contingency  which  may  arise 
while  custodial  care  is  being  brought  about. 

Now  if  each  of  you  will  go  home  and  teach  and  show 
the  wastefulness  of  feeblemindedness,  make  your  school 
boards  and  your  community  see  how  much  money  is 
wasted  by  letting  these  feebleminded  persons  run  at 
large  and  have  children, — that  is  what  will  impress 
them,  the  extravagance  of  it.  I  want  you  to  get  the 
right  point  of  view.  These  particular  children  do  not 
matter  so  much,  if  we  can  use  them  as  laboratory 
material  to  demonstrate  the  problem,  to  show  the 
facts.  Remember  that  we  haVe  150,000  to  300,000 
idiots  in  this  country,  and  less  than  15,000  in  institu- 
tions. Where  are  the  rest  of  them?  About  the  country- 
side, marrying  and  having  children.  Come  back  to 
the  question  of  cost;  the  state  takes  care  of  them 
anyway.  The  almshouses  are  full.  The  jails  are  full. 
The  lunatic  asylums  are  full.  That  could  all  have 
been  wiped  out  if  the  teachers  had  been  intelligent 


188  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

enough.  The  day  will  come  when  I  will  not  have  a  job 
and  you  ought  not  have  a  job.  We  ought  to  work 
ourselves  out  of  our  jobs,  if  we  are  good  for  anything. 
If  we  could  lock  up  all  the  feebleminded  in  New  York 
state  to-night,  in  thirty  years  we  would  have  very  few 
feebleminded  persons  living.  We  would  take  care  that 
the  next  generation  would  have  very  few  feebleminded 
persons  in  it.  There  would  be  a  few  sporadic  cases, 
of  course.  If  you  will  remember  that  you  are  to  work 
yourselves  out  of  a  job,  you  will  be  doing  a  great  work. 
You  will  be  following  out  the  doctrines  of  the  great  bio- 
logists, and  preparing  the  way  for  the  future  perfect 
man  and  perfect  woman. 

Augusts,  1911. 

Are  there  any  questions  to  clear  up  about  the  work 
thus  far?  I  shall  appreciate  very  much  the  expres- 
sion of  your  own  opinion  about  anything  you  have 
seen,  and  perhaps  by  telling  what  you  do  think  it  will 
give  me  a  chance  to  make  some  things  clear  to  you 
that  must  otherwise  pass. 

Q.  I  have  boys  in  school  who  are  very  active  and 
troublesome,  and  I  find  that  they  change  sometimes 
when  their  actions  are  not  noticed, — I  find  that  they 
come  around  best  when  they  are  not  noticed.  Is  it 
better  to  leave  them  alone,  or  would  you  take  decided 
steps  to  have  them  obey  your  commands  at  once? 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          189 

A.  There  are  two  ways  of  looking  at  that.  Open 
rebellion  in  the  school  room  must  be  met.  If  a  boy 
openly  refuses,  there  is  a  condition  which  must  be 
dealt  with  at  once.  Personally,  I  believe  that  the 
fewer  commands  given  the  fewer  opportunities  are 
offered  for  the  disobedience  of  the  child,  and  the  better 
it  is  for  the  school  work  and  for  the  teacher.  I  think 
there  is  no  question  about  what  is  best  for  the  children, 
— that  is  the  school,  of  course.  There  is  never  any 
doubt  in  my  own  mind  on  that  point.  The  schools 
are  made  for  the  children,  and  unless  the  school  is 
the  place  where  the  child  can  improve,  there  is  some- 
thing the  matter  with  the  school.  I  believe  almost 
in  peace  at  any  price.  I  would  keep  the  children  in 
school  at  all  costs  to  myself  and  anyone  else.  I  have 
in  mind  a  condition  which  might  arise,  which  you 
would  have  to  meet  for  the  sake  of  the  other  children. 
The  wise  teacher  has  few  such  conditions,  very  few. 
But  if  one  does  come  up,  it  has  to  be  met,  that's  all. 
After  all,  why  are  we  in  school?  We  are  there  for 
the  sake  of  the  children,  and  whatever  makes  the 
school  count  more  for  the  children,  that  is  what  we 
must  do. 

Q.  In  playing  store,  did  Miss  Walsh  expect  the 
children  to  add  14  and  9,  or  did  she  expect  them  to 
give  her  14  pennies  and  then  9  pennies? 

Miss  Walsh  answered:    I  expected  them  to  do  both, 


190  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

to  give  me  the  change  for  each  article,  and  then  count 
up  the  whole  cost. 

Miss  Farrell  added:  Of  course,  there  is  a  time  when 
the  child  counts  up  his  purchases,  and  the  child  who 
keeps  the  store  gives  him  the  change,  say  from  25 
cents,  and  this  gives  a  chance  for  subtraction  as  well 
as  addition.  It  doesn't  so  much  matter  how  they  do  it. 
It  is  simpler  for  the  children  to  count  out  9  pennies 
and  14  pennies.  I  think  Miss  Walsh's  idea  is  to  work 
toward  the  true  condition  in  stores.  The  child  must 
be  able  to  count  9  and  14  and  25,  and  find  out  if  he 
gets  the  right  change. 

Q.  You  don't  attempt  any  tone  exercises  in  articu- 
lation? 

A.  Yes,  in  conjunction  with  breath  control  and 
the  tongue  gymnastics. 

Now  if  there  is  nothing  else,  I  want  to  take  up  the 
question  of  what  you  shall  teach  these  children.  I 
want  to  indicate  for  you  first  the  thing  that  you  know 
quite  as  well  as  I  do,  and  that  is  that  the  children, — 
our  children  here, — need  to  get  the  same  thing  from 
a  thousand  different  points  of  view,  if  they  can.  In 
that  respect  your  children  at  home  are  no  different. 
The  same  condition  exists  for  the  children  as  exists 
for  us.  We  can  hear  of  the  Mona  Lisa  in  the  gallery 
at  Paris  for  a  year  and  a  day,  and  still  we  do  not  know 
the  Mona  Lisa  until  we  have  seen  the  original.  That 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.         191 

holds  true  of  everything,  no  matter  how  small  or 
how  large.  We  must  get  all  the  information  we  can, 
from  as  many  points  of  view  as  we  possibly  can,  in 
order  to  know  completely  the  thing  we  are  studying. 
In  order  to  give  the  children  an  opportunity  to  know 
all  they  can  about  any  given  thing,  it  seems  wise  to 
correlate  all  the  different  activities  of  the  children. 
•  When  you  begin  to  correlate  you  get  into  a  subject 
which  has  been  much  abused.  Correlations  have  been 
made,  and  after  a  time  they  are  seen  to  be  not  real 
correlations,  but  seeming  correlations.  For  the  sake 
of  correlation,  some  teachers  have  been  willing  to 
strain  a  point  and  correlate  everything.  It  is  not  of 
such  correlation  that  I  speak.  I  mean  only  the  natural 
correlations.  Only  those  things  which  are  nearly 
related  can  be  correlated.  And  the  question  arises, 
what  are  those  things?  I  want  it  understood  that 
I  am  going  to  consider  the  question  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  teacher  of  subnormal  children. 

If  you  are  going  to  correlate,  it  becomes  necessary 
to  determine  certain  centers  of  interest.  A  center 
of  interest,  to  be  of  very  much  use,  must  be  big  enough 
to  allow  work  to  go  on  over  a  considerable  period  of 
time.  I  need  not  indicate  for  you  here  the  psycho- 
logical value  of  such  a  scheme.  It  is  again  the  problem 
of  attention,  the  problem  of  interest,  of  spreading 
out  and  pushing  forward  further  from  the  center, 


192  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

the  span  of  attention,  and  the  span  of  interest.  We 
want  to  create  in  the  children,  not  the  constantly 
changing  interests  in  a  number  of  things;  we  want 
to  hold  their  interest  in  one  thing.  Whatever  the 
center  of  interest  you  decide  upon,  it  must  have  in  it- 
self the  qualities  which  will  command  the  children's 
attention  and  hold  their  interest  for  some  time.  I 
don't  want  to  say  what  are  the  centers  of  interest 
to  be  determined.  I  think  it  would  be  wrong  to  do  so. 
Here  again  you  have  to  consider  the  children  you 
teach,  their  direct  inheritance,  and  their  indirect 
inheritance,  their  racial  instincts  and  leanings,  their 
surroundings,  and  the  occupations  of  their  parents. 
All  that  must  come  into  it. 

Through  all  this,  which  seems  utilitarian  and 
materialistic  in  a  very  real  way,  the  teacher  must 
have  in  her  mind  an  all-enveloping  desire  to  make 
these  children  the  highest  type  of  men  or  women  they 
are  capable  of  becoming.  That  desire  must  have  an 
indirect  or  unconscious  influence.  You  are  not  going 
to  say  to  the  children,  to  these  little  Russians  "Be 
Americans,"  to  these  little  Italians,  "Be  Americans." 
You  are  not  going  to  say  that  in  so  many  words,  but 
your  whole  manner  of  dealing  with  them  is  to  be 
illuminated  with  the  intense  desire  on  your  part  to 
make  of  these  little  rascals  American  men  and  women. 
You  don't  define  that,  of  course,  to  the  children. 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          193 

You  select  your  center  of  interest,  and  then  like  a 
great  cover  you  weave  around  it  your  desire  to  make 
them  the  best  type  of  men  or  woman.  That  will  do 
more  than  the  center  of  interest  to  develop  the  right 
spirit  in  the  children.  It  seems  a  little  odd,  perhaps,  to 
emphasize  the  cover  that  you  put  around  the  thing, 
before  the  thing  itself  is  known,  but  after  all  it  is  this 
undefined  desire  which  is  going  to  color  your  work  and 
make  it  worth  while.  There  are  many  factors  which 
enter  into  the  effect  of  unconscious  tone.  If  you  know 
Bishop  Huntington's  book,  you  will  know  that  the  things 
the  teacher  teaches  are  not  half  so  great  or  weighty 
as  what  the  teacher  is.  This  is  an  old  and  hackneyed 
saying,  but  Bishop  Huntington  has  put  it  in  such  a  way 
that  it  will  stick  to  you  as  long  as  you  live.  If  the 
thing  which  dominates  your  consciousness  is  your 
desire  to  make  of  these  children  something  more  than 
workers  in  this  workaday  world,  you  are  going  to  suc- 
ceed. But  do  not  state  to  the  children  that  they  are 
going  to  be  idealists.  Do  not  give  them  work  which 
has  been  evolved  in  some  philosophic  brain,  but  give 
them  the  work  that  is  here  and  now,  and  lead  them 
step  by  step,  until  some  day  they  come  into  the  inheri- 
tance of  the  race. 

Like  so  many  other  things,  the  really  vital  spark 
in  teaching  is  something  you  can't  define  or  hand  on 
from  one  to  another.  It  is  something  we  have  in  us. 


194  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

We  have  it,  or  we  have  it  not,  and  if  we  have  it  not, 
we  are  not  teachers. 

If  you  have  formed  some  idea  of  this  great  cover  which 
is  going  to  dominate  your  whole  work  with  the  children, 
we  can  go  on  to  the  more  material  fact  of  the  center  of 
interest.  In  New  York  City  last  year  we  worked 
twelve  centers  of  interest,  and  I  am  going  to  tell  you 
frankly  the  trouble  with  working  twelve  centers  of 
interest,  and  I  am  going  to  advise  you  not  to  do  it. 
We  did  it  last  year.  In  September  and  October  we 
took  the  harvest,  and  Columbus  Day.  Columbus 
Day  with  us  is  a  legal  holiday,  and  directly  interests  all 
school  people  because  it  is  a  holiday,  and  a  large  number 
of  school  children  who  are  Italians  and  very  proud  of 
Columbus,  naturally.  In  November  we  took  up  the 
story  of  the  Indians  and  the  first  Thanksgiving. 
In  December  we  taught  the  story  of  Christmas,  and 
in  Jewish  sections  of  the  city  we  took  the  festival  of  the 
Seven  Lights,  which  is  a  Jewish  festival  and  emble- 
matic of  the  Christian  Christmas.  In  January  we 
took  the  children  of  the  North,  and  in  February  we  had 
a  patriotic  month,  with  Washington's  and  Lincoln's 
birthdays.  From  March  on  until  the  end  of  the  year 
we  studied  germination  and  farm  life,  beginning  with 
germination  in  March;  in  April,  Easter,  the  awaken- 
ing of  spring,  the  higher  thought  of  germination;  and 
in  May,  early  farming.  In  June  we  carried  on  the  study 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          195 

of  agricultural  life,  and  picked  up  the  loose  ends  for  the 
year. 

This  sounds  better  than  it  is.  Right  away  an 
experienced  teacher  will  say  it  is  too  fragmentary, 
and  that  is  the  whole  trouble  with  it.  It  was  no  trouble 
the  first  year  we  did  it,  because  it  had  not  been  done  on 
an  extensive  scale,  and  it  was  new  to  teachers  and  chil- 
dren, and  everybody  was  interested  hi  it.  The  second 
year,  fortunately  or  unfortunately,  the  children  remem- 
bered a  great  deal  that  had  been  done  before.  It  lacked 
the  first  bright  interest,  and  to  a  great  extent  it  was 
useless.  That  was  not  true  in  all  classes,  but  was 
proportionately  true  as  the  teacher  was  efficient. 
The  thing  to  keep  in  mind  is  your  own  class  and  how 
long  you  can  carry  the  center  of  interest. 

Anybody  who  has  watched  the  work  here  this  summer 
has  some  idea  of  the  abundance  of  work  offered  by  the 
play  house.  We  are  going  to  finish  it  off  in  a  big  way 
only.  There  is  many  weeks'  work  on  the  play  house. 
In  the  hands  of  somebody  who  wants  to  work  hard 
enough  it  offers  opportunity  for  a  whole  year's  work. 
That,  of  course,  is  provided  you  can  keep  your  interest 
in  it,  and  provided  the  children  keep  theirs.  There  are 
little  tricks  of  holding  attention.  Mrs.  Pfeiffer  has 
given  a  shining  example  of  one.  The  children  had 
worked  at  this  house  until  it  was  impossible  to  see  very 
much  change  in  it,  although  something  was  done 


196  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

every  day.  Then  Mrs.  Pfeiffer  had  the  whole  lot 
painted.  It  looks  like  a  new  thing.  The  interest  has 
been  revived,  and  the  children  are  willing  to  go  on 
with  them  because  they  look  more  like  houses.  There 
is  the  trick  of  not  allowing  the  children  to  work  at 
all  the  rooms  of  the  house,  not  to  get  the  whole  thing 
mixed  up,  but  to  work  on  one  room.  Get  the  kitchen 
done,  and  then  go  to  the  next  room.  Define  the  prob- 
lems you  are  going  to  let  the  children  work  on.  Those 
little  tricks  of  keeping  up  the  interest  will  suggest 
themselves  to  you,  as  they  do  to  any  practical  teacher. 

Q.     Does  each  child  plan  his  own  house? 

A.  Yes,  and  there  are  many  things  about  that  series 
of  houses  that  are  intensely  interesting.  Take  these 
little  ones.  The  children  all  started  with  boxes  of 
about  the  same  height.  There  wasn't  three  inches 
difference  in  height.  Now  look  at  them.  I  remember 
seeing  Flora;  she  had  drawn  the  line  down  to  get  the 
slant  for  the  roof,  and  when  she  came  to  saw  it  she 
sawed  toward  the  front  of  the  house;  but  after  many 
trials  and  tribulations  she  got  it  right.  In  the  hands 
of  most  teachers,  again,  it  would  have  meant  bringing 
up  another  box  for  Robert,  but  that  one  is  worth  more, 
as  showing  what  Robert  does,  than  a  perfect  house, 
started  the  third  or  fourth  time.  It  is  better  for  him. 
He  can  see  without  anybody's  calling  attention  to  it 
that  it  is  different  from  the  others.  He  may  not 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.  197 

be  able  to  explain  it  in  words,  but  he  can't  help 
seeing  it. 

When  you  look  at  these  houses,  you  know  they  are 
the  work  of  the  children.  Most  teachers  wouldn't 
want  to  stand  for  some  of  the  things  on  these  houses. 
It  is  only  a  real  teacher  who  will  stand  for  them. 
Look  at  those  windows.  Think  of  the  arithmetic  which 
is  involved  in  planning  the  windows  and  measuring 
them  off.  And  the  houses  look  like  the  children  who 
made  them.  That  one  belongs  to  David.  David  is  a 
normal  child,  probably.  It  shows  in  the  work  he  does. 
Look  at  his  fine  large  windows.  Now  look  at  Wilbur's, 
what  little  square  holes  he  has.  Whether  Wilbur  has 
ever  noticed  that  windows  are  generally  longer  than  they 
are  wide,  is  a  question.  But  look  at  David's  again. 
David  has  windows  which  are  large  enough  to  give  light 
and  air  to  the  house.  Think  of  the  arithmetic!  That 
is  what  would  appeal  to  the  teacher.  The  inside  also 
the  children  work  at.  They  decide  whether  they  want 
two  rooms  or  four  rooms,  a  two  story  house  or  a  four 
story  house.  Two  boys  chose  to  make  a  house  long, 
this  way.  As  you  look  into  these  matters,  a  great 
many  questions  will  spring  up  in  your  minds. 

Q.     How  did  they  begin  them? 

Mrs.  Pfeiffer  answered:  They  brought  their  own 
boxes  to  begin  with.  Our  morning  talk  had  been  about 
their  homes,  what  they  were  made  of,  how  many  rooms 


198  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

they  had,  and  so  on.  Then  we  talked  about  the  house 
they  would  like  to  make,  how  many  rooms  it  should 
have,  and  what  these  rooms  should  be,  and  where  they 
should  be  arranged.  Almost  everybody  decided  that 
the  kitchen  ought  to  be  the  largest  room,  and  you  see 
in  many  cases'  it  is  the  largest  room.  After  the  rooms 
were  decided  on  and  the  partitions  built,  they  planned 
the  windows  and  doors.  Sometimes  they  did  not 
work  out  as  planned,  and  sometines  they  worked  out 
better.  George  has  stained  his  floor  and  put  a  molding 
around  for  the  baseboard.  Ernest's  is  very  much  more 
nicely  done.  Some  of  his  rooms  are  now  papered,  and 
all  his  floors  are  stained. 

Miss  Farrell  resumed:  Perhaps  if  I  say  how  the 
painting  was  done,  it  will  indicate  how  the  house  was 
planned.  The  children  were  asked  to  notice  how  many 
kinds  of  paint  were  used  on  one  building.  On  most 
houses  you  will  find  two.  The  body  of  the  house  is 
one  color,  and  the  windows,  doors,  and  moldings  are 
another  color.  That  brought  out  the  interest  of  the 
children  in  their  own  homes.  I  think  there  have  been 
a  few  mistakes  with  regard  to  painting  the  moldings 
lighter  than  the  body  of  the  house. 

It  is  a  matter  for  suggestion  and  direction.  The 
ideal  play  house,  it  seems  to  me,  for  the  school  children 
to  make  would  be  a  duplicate  of  their  own  home. 
We  have  in  one  class-room  in  New  York  City  a  piece 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.  199 

of  communal  work  done  with  pasteboard  boxes,  repre- 
senting a  large  tenement  in  which  the  children  live,  a 
massive  construction,  put  together  with  paper  fasteners. 
The  idea  they  got  from  it  was  a  great,  long,  box-shaped 
affair,  with  floors  close  together.  Other  children  who 
lived  better,  with  wider  halls  and  larger  rooms,  had 
a  different  idea  to  work  out.  Here  again,  as  in  every- 
thing else,  begin  with  the  child,  let  the  work  be  his. 

Another  thing  is  true  of  New  York  City:  we  have 
houses  all  on  one  floor.  When  New  York  children  make 
a  play  house,  they  make  the  rooms  all  on  one  floor. 
That  is  their  idea  of  a  home.  I  remember  some  chil- 
dren who  were  sent  to  the  country  one  summer,  and  the 
greatest  discovery  they  made  was  that  some  people 
lived  in  a  house  where  there  were  two  pairs  of  stairs. 
You  went  up,  and  there  was  a  place  where  people 
slept,  and  you  went  up  again,  and  there  was  an  attic 
with  all  kinds  of  fascinating  things  stored  in  it.  Now 
these  children  had  no  idea  that  anybody  lived  that  way 
and  had  such  a  home.  That  knowledge  grew  directly 
out  of  the  center  of  interest  in  the  home. 

Here  you  have  more  problems  in  arithmetic  than  you 
can  use.  You  will  see  to-morrow  how  Mrs.  Pfeiffer 
has  led  up  to  square  measure  (and  maybe  to  cubic 
measure  by  multiplying  the  three  dimensions).  For 
real  purposes  of  training,  the  children  cannot  get  an 
idea  of  cubic  measure,  but  you  will  see  to-morrow  how 


200  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

the  lesson  in  square  measure  could  readily  be  carried 
on  into  cubic  measure.  There  are  many  other  ideas  for 
arithmetic  which  could  be  worked  out  in  connection 
with  the  play  house. 

I  want  to  ask  your  attention  to  the  amount  of  litera- 
ture and  language  work  which  is  opened  up  when  you 
study  the  play  house.  We  have  had  two  trips  to 
museums  and  will  have  another,  to  study  the  work 
of  other  peoples,  particularly  the  basketry  and  pottery 
which  we  have  taken  up.  More  than  a  year's  work  is 
at  hand  when  you  begin  to  correlate  the  reading, 
language,  and  literature  of  the  subject  with  the  motor 
training  offered  in  the  play  house.  You  have  seen 
something  of  the  interest  in  reading  which  comes  out 
of  the  play  house.  Our  children  have  been  reading 
about  children  of  faraway  lands,  what  kinds  of  houses 
they  live  in.  This  morning  in  the  language  work  we 
had  an  imaginative  story.  We  have  one  child  who  is 
said  to  be  very  imaginative  and  able  to  make  up  stories, 
but  several  of  the  children  did  quite  as  well  as  she  did. 
They  told  such  stories  as  this:  "My  house  is  a  shanty. 
It  is  down  by  the  river.  An  old  bachelor  lives  in  my 
house.  He  loves  fishing,  and  likes  to  go  out  in  a  boat." 

Another  child  said:  "Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carter  live  in 
my  house.  My  house  will  be  in  the  country  near  a 
farmer's  field."  This  was  not  suggested.  These 
stories  were  the  free  exercise  of  the  children's  own 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          201 

imagination.  Another  one  said :  ' '  Willie  B .  lives  in  my 
house.  He  rides  horseback  all  over  the  country.  My 
mother  likes  me  to  visit  Willie  B."  Five  children  were 
working  at  the  blackboard  and  we  have  five  individual 
sets  of  sentences. 

Q.  Can  the  children  spell  all  the  words  in  stories 
like  that? 

A.  It  is  not  necessary  to  know  how  to  spell  every 
word.  The  thing  that  is  necessary  is  to  have  something 
to  say,  and  to  make  an  effort  at  saying  it.  These 
children  had  that. 

Q.    But  wouldn't  you  teach  these  children  to  spell? 

A.  While  I  have  said  that  I  did  not  think  it  neces- 
sary for  children  to  have  formal  spelling  lessons,  that 
is  because. the  time  we  have  with  the  children  is  so 
short  that  we  felt  we  wanted  to  keep  the  facts  upper- 
most in  their  consciousness.  As  a  consequence  of  this 
we  have  given  them  books  in  which  they  have  written 
words  relating  to  the  center  of  interest,  the  play  house, 
my  home,  and  so  on, — the  words  they  had  trouble  in 
spelling, — and  these  books  will  measure  up  well  with 
the  work  of  other  children.  Each  child  doesn't  have 
the  same  words, — that  isn't  necessary.  Robert  never 
can  spell  is,  and  always  has  to  be  shown  how  to  do  that. 
But  George  knows  how  to  spell  it,  and  so  he  doesn't 
need  to  have  it  in  his  book.  The  books  are  almost 
as  individual  as  the  children.  They  choose  the  name- 


202  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

words  most  often,  father,  mother,  kitchen.  They  do 
not  choose  the  action  words  so  often. 

I  said  in  the  beginning  that  I  did  not  believe  in  a 
strained  correlation.  For  that  reason  we  have  not 
hesitated  to  sing  about  the  carpenter,  about  the  bee- 
hive, about  the  cloudy  day.  We  do  not  have  enough 
songs  of  the  right  kind  for  the  children  to  sing  all  the 
time  about  the  house. 

I  am  going  to  recommend  to  you  to  decide  upon  a 
center  of  interest,  and  make  it  last  for  as  long  a  time 
as  it  is  possible  or  wise  for  you  to  work  upon  it,  and 
then  make  such  natural  correlations, — such  obvious 
correlations, — as  will  meet  the  needs  and  desires  of  the 
children.  Do  not  strain  after  the  artificial.  It  is 
not  necessary  for  them  to  work  with  buying  or  selling, 
or  measuring,  or  any  work  connected  with  the  house  all 
the  time.  But  you  want  correlation  of  the  right  kind. 
The  teacher  need  make  only  the  natural  correlations, 
and  she  will  have  variety  in  her  work.  But  when  you 
strain,  as  some  great  schools  of  pedagogy  have  strained, 
for  correlation,  you  are  going  to  have  a  dead  level  which 
is  hard  to  make  interesting  at  all  times. 

I  am  sorry  I  can't  tell  you  of  a  center  of  interest  to 
work  out  next  year.  I  can  only  say  that  in  many  of 
the  schools  in  New  York  City  we  will  begin  in  Septem- 
ber a  center  of  interest  which  will  extend  over  a  longer 
period  than  one  month.  Except  where  teachers  want 


ROUND  TABLE  DISCUSSIONS.          203 

it  very  much,  we  will  not  have  the  short  periods  of  one 
month,  changing  the  whole  train  of  things  and  starting 
afresh  the  next  month.  The  thing  to  do  is  to  find  a 
center  of  interest  which  will  carry  the  children  along 
for  a  longer  period  of  time.  When  you  have  found  that, 
you  have  found  the  work  which  is  easiest  done. 

Try  to  arouse  in  the  hearts  of  the  children  the  right 
feeling  toward  father  and  mother,  and  an  affection  for 
their  home.  It  must  not  be  given  out  as  a  dogma  to  be 
believed.  The  thing  you  must  strive  for  is  feeling, 
that  is  all  that  will  count  with  little  children.  There 
are  a  dozen  types  of  work  which  I  might  indicate, 
but  they  will  suggest  themselves  to  you  as  you  go  on. 
If  you  will  take  this  as  a  scheme, — put  a  circle  in  the 
center  of  your  page,  and  name  your  interest,  whatever 
it  is, — perhaps  it  is  "my  house".  Then  from  that  draw 
lines  showing  the  great  bodies  of  knowledge  you  are 
going  to  teach.  Perhaps  you  are  going  to  let  ethnology 
grow  out  of  this  center  of  interest.  You  are  going  to 
teach  geography,  manual  training,  art  work,  physical 
training.  Arrange  all  the  things  you  are  going  to  do, 
around  there.  See  what  you  think  of  it.  It  is  almost 
like  a  map  of  the  heavens !  With  this  center  I  can  teach 
the  relation  of  father  and  mother  and  children.  I 
can  teach  what  constitutes  a  home.  In  art  work  I 
can  teach  textiles  and  combinations  of  color,  and  the 
decorations  of  the  home.  Go  over  it  again  and  again 


204  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

and  limit,  and  boil  it  down,  down,  down.  The  things 
that  will  suggest  themselves  first  are  the  true  correla- 
tions; those  are  the  obvious  facts  which  you  want  to 
relate  in  the  minds  of  the  children. 

There  is  a  very  real  justification  for  correlating  on  the 
basis  of  the  unity  of  the  mental  life.  That  again  is  for 
your  own  background.  That  is  to  be  the  soil  out  of 
which  your  correlating  for  the  child  is  to  arise.  I  want 
to  recommend  to  you  earnestly  this  idea  of  correlation 
for  children  who  are  backward,  retarded,  who  have 
little  chance  to  make  their  own  correlations  without  the 
help  of  some  one  else.  One  way  to  do  it  is  to  present 
the  day's  work  in  a  related  fashion.  And  I  want  to 
recommend  to  you  that  you  think  of  this  as  a  unity. 
The  whole  thing  is  one.  Leibnitz  says  that  the  great- 
est thing  in  the  world,  the  most  all-encompassing 
abstraction,  is  the  idea  of  unity.  Now  if  it  is  as  dif- 
ficult as  that  for  Leibnitz,  it  must  be  very  difficult  for 
us.  But  it  is  the  thing  to  remember, — to  unify,  to 
correlate,  to  interweave  the  different  factors  in  the  life 
of  these  children. 


THE   CHILDREN'S  WORK. 

PLATES 
XXI-XXXII. 


These  illustrations  exhibit  great  differences  in  the  quantity 
and  quality  of  the  manual  work  accomplished  by  the  several 
children.  Twelve  children  are  shown,  each  with  his  own  work 
and  each  proud  of  his  accomplishment.  To  obtain  a  complete 
understanding  of  what  the  work  accomplished  meant  for 
each  child,  would  require  a  very  long  report  of  day-to-day 
progress.  This  progress  students  in  the  observation  class 
were  able  to  watch,  and  their  attention  was  drawn  to  the 
significance  of  particular  portions  of  the  work  for  the  immed- 
iate developmental  needs  of  the  individual  child.  The  boy 
shown  in  Plate  XXX  came  to  the  work  interested  in  nothing. 
The  chief  task  with  him  was  to  stimulate  his  interest  in  any 
kind  of  performance,  no  matter  what.  In  general,  emphasis 
was  placed  upon  an  increase  in  the  power  to  accomplish  rather 


ii  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

than  in  the  completion  of  perfected  work.  Thus  "  Twenty- 
four's  "  completed  work  is  poor  in  quality  and  small 
in  quantity  compared  with  "Twenty-one,"  but  the  former 
received  actually  more  instruction  and  made  relatively 
more  progress  measured  in  terms  of  accomplishment  than  did 
the  latter.  In  Plate  XXVIII  the  house  as  finished  is  smaller 
than  that  produced  by  the  boy  in  Plate  XXI.  The  former 
started  out  to  make  a  larger  house,  but  made  many  mistakes 
and  was  compelled  to  overcome  his  own  mistakes  instead  of 
being  allowed  to  start  anew  with  fresh  material. 

The  children  were  told  to  bring  boxes  from  home,  for  the 
purpose  of  encouraging  spontaneity  and  responsibility  on  the 
part  of  the  children,  and  also  to  suggest  to  teachers  that  inex- 
pensive material  will  suffice  for  the  purposes  of  instruction. 
Ten  children  brought  boxes.  Those  who  did  not  were  given 
other  occupations. 

In  addition  to  the  houses  the  pictures  show  specimens  of 
basket  work,  soldiers'  hats,  flags  and  shields,  illustrating  some 
of  the  story  work  of  the  class,  drawings  in  pencil,  colored 
crayons,  and  water  colors,  and  furniture  for  the  houses.  The 
central  idea  of  the  manual  work  was  the  building  of  the  home. 
This  selection  was  felt  to  be  psychologically  justified  and  also 
educationally  important,  combining  as  it  did  the  natural 
interest  of  the  child  with  the  opportunity  to  train  and  direct 
his  powers  of  observation  to  the  objects  of  the  ordinary  en- 
vironment, giving  also  an  opportunity  to  suggest  a  wealth  of 
hygienic  and  social  knowledge. 


PLATES    XXI    AND    XXII. 


PLATES   XXIII   AND    XXIV 


PLATES    XXV    AND    XXVI 


PLATES   XXVII   AND   XXVIII. 


PLATES   XXIX   AND   XXX.. 


PLATES   XXXI   AND   XXXII. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

NUTRITION  AND  GROWTH. 
BY  LOUISE  STEVENS  BRYANT. 

The  factors  of  nutrition  are  air,  water,  food,  exercise 
and  rest.  We  were  able  to  control  all  of  these  factors 
from  nine  to  four  on  each  school  day.  It  was  summer, 
so  there  was  no  trouble  in  keeping  the  windows  open, 
and  the  children  were  out  of  doors  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  the  time.  The  water  supply  was  carefully 
regulated,  the  children  drinking  spring  water  at 
certain  intervals  under  supervision.  A  lunch,  as  hearty 
as  the  weather  permitted,  was  served  at  twelve. 
Exercise  was  assured  in  manual  occupations,  in  the 
formal  gymnastics  with  wands,  Indian  clubs,  dumb- 
bells, marching,  ladder  climbing  and  so  forth;  and 
the  boys,  in  addition  to  the  gymnasium  work,  had  swim- 
ming and  baseball.  The  children  had  a  complete  rest 
for  an  hour  each  day  after  lunch,  and  when  they  did 
not  sleep  still  remained  quite  relaxed  either  in  the  open 
air  or  in  a  darkened  room. 

The  balance  of  the  twenty-four  hours  it  was  impos- 
sible to  control  directly  except  in  the  case  of  the  six 
children  under  the  immediate  care  of  the  Clinic  in 
boarding  homes.  An  attempt  was  made,  however,  to 

(205) 


206  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

SUSAN  C.  I. 

Filled  out  by  Miss  Black.  HOME  EATING 


Went  to  bed  at 

MONDAY 

8 

TUESDAY 

8 

WEDNESDAY 

8 

Got  up  at 

6.15 

6.10 

620 

Slept  (well;  badly)  

Ate  for  supper: 
What?    How  much? 
Soup 

well 

well 

well 

Bread     .       ... 

6  slices 

6  slices 

6  slices.     1 

Butter  

on  bread 

roll 
on  roll 

Meat  

and  jelly 
Schweitzer 

Vegetables 

cheese 
Rarebit  of 

Dessert  

banana 

potatoes, 
tomatoes, 
eggs 
crullers 

Milk  

3  glasses 

3^  glasses 

3  glasses 

Ate  for  breakfast: 
What?    How  much? 
Milk  

3  glasses 

3  glasses 

3|  glasses 

Bread  

6  slices 

Rolls  

1 

1,  with  jelly 

Butter  

on  roll 

on  roll 

Fruit  

banana 

Eggs  

2 

Meat 

summer 

Cereal 

3  S.  W.  Bis. 

bologna 
2  S.  W.  Bis. 

2  S.  W.  Bis. 

Bowels  moved: 
How  many  times? 

1 

2 

2 

NUTRITION  AND  GROWTH. 

Aug.  7-Aug.  13. 
AND  SLEEPING. 


207 


THURSDAY 

FRIDAY 

SATURDAY 

SUNDAY 

8 

6.20 
well 

8 

6.20 
well 

8.45 

6.15 
well 

7.45 
7 
well 

(Dinner) 

6  slices 

7  slices 

5  slices 

4  slices 

on  bread 
lima  beans 

with  bread  and 
jelly 

tomatoes 

with  bread  and 
jelly 

on  bread 

Pot  pie  of  beef 
and  pork 

3  glasses 

3  glasses 

plums 
2£  glasses 

stewed  apples 

3i  glasses 
1  slice 

3  glasses 
2  slices 

3£  glasses 
4  plain,  1  toast 

3  glasses 
6  slices 

on  bread 

on  bread 

plums 
2 

on  bread 
cantaloupe 

with  bread 
and  jelly 

3  S.  W.  Bis. 

3  S.  W.  Bis. 

2  S.  W.  Bis. 

1 

1 

2 

2 

208  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

GEORGE  S.  II. 


Filled  out  by  Miss  Blundin 


HOME  EATING 


Went  to  bed  at 

MONDAY 

g 

TUESDAY 

g 

WEDNESDAY 

8 

Got  up  at  

7 

7.30 

8 

Slept  (well;  badly)  

Ate  for  supper 
What?    How  much? 
Soup  

well 
vegetable 

well 

well 

Bread  

2  slices 

3  slices 

2  slices 

Butter  

ves 

yes 

Meat  

egg 

boiled  ham 

Vegetables 

fried  toma- 

stewed 

cabbaee 

Dessert  

toes,  corn, 
potatoes 

iuckleberries 

tomatoes, 
potatoes, 
boiled 
rice 

potatoes, 
beets 

Milk  

1  glass 

1  glass 

1  elass 

Ate  for  breakfast: 
What?    How  much? 
Milk  

heartily 
1  glass 

1  glass 

1  glass 

Bread  

2  slices 

2  slices 

3  slices 

Rolls  

Butter  

ves 

yes 

ves 

Fruit 

J  w 

apples 

banana  and 

Eees 

luckleberries 

1  ecg 

Meat 

. 

Cereal.   .       .    . 

cereal 

oat  meal 

cereal 

Bowels  moved: 
How  many  times?  

twice 

once 

twice 

NUTRITION  AND  GROWTH. 

July  31-Aug.  7. 
AND  SLEEPING. 


209 


THURSDAY 

FRIDAY 

SATURDAY 

SUNDAY 

8 

6.30 
soundly 

8 
7 
soundly 

9 
7.30 
soundly 

9 
9 
soundly 

1  slice 

vegetable 
2  slices 

2  slices 

1  slice 

yes 

mashed    pota- 
toes, corn, 
beets 

fish 
potatoes, 
stewed 
tomatoes, 
rice 

yes 
steak 
mashed    pota- 
toes, corn, 
beets 

yes 
roast  beef 
roast  pota- 
toes, string 
beans,  salad 

huckleberries 

corn  starch 

ice  cream  and 
cake 

1  glass 
3  slices 

1  glass 
3  slices 

1  glass 
2  slices 

2  glasses 
3  slices 

yes 
apple  sauce 

huckleberries 

yes 
2  pears 

yes 
1  banana 

legg 
oat  meal 

oat  meal 

friz,  beef,  fried 
potatoes 

cereal 

once 

twice 

once 

210 


WILBUR  B. 

Filled  out  by  mother 


BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

III. 


HOME  EATING 


Went  to  bed  at  

MONDAY 

8.30 

TUESDAY 

8 

WEDNESDAY 

9 

Got  up  at  

7 

7 

7 

Slept  (well;  badly)  

Ate  for  supper: 
What?    How  much? 
Soup 

well  but 
restless 

well,  moved 
occasion- 
ally 

pretty  rest- 
less 

Bread 

3  pieces 

2  pieces 

2  pieces 

Butter 

ves 

yes 

Meat  .. 

roast  veal, 

lamb    stew 

beef  steak 

Vegetables  

generous 
portion     , 

potatoes, 

potatoes, 

potatoes, 

Dessert  . 

beans, 
beets, 
salad 
tapioca 

corn 
blackberry 

tomatoes 
blackberry 

Ate  for  breakfast: 
What?    How  much? 
Milk  

postum  (one 

pudding 
postum 

pudding 
postum 

Bread 

A     ^            A 

4  pieces  and 

3  pieces 

3  pieces 

Rolls.. 

jelly 

Butter  

ves 

yes  and 

Fruit  

bananas 

apple  sauce 

jelly 
blackberry 

Eggs  .  . 

scrambled 

mush 

Meat  

Cereal  

grapenuts 

post  toaeties 

Bowels  moved: 
How  many  times? 

once  during 
day 

once  during 
day 

twice  during 
day 

NUTRITION  AND  GROWTH. 

July  24-31. 


211 


AND  SLEEPING. 


THURSDAY 

FRIDAY 

SATURDAY 

SUNDAY 

8 
7 
wdl 

8.30 

7 
restless 

9 
7.30 
well 

9.30 
8 
well;  only 
moved  a 
few  times 

2  pieces 

4  pieces 

4  pieces 

1  piece 

pot  roast  beef 

potatoes,  corn, 
tomatoes 

fish 
potatoes,  peas 

veal  cutlet 

potatoes,  beets, 
macaroni  and 
cheese 

pot  pie;  meat 
and  vege- 
tables all 
together 

glass  milk 

custard              • 
pudding 

junket 

custard 
pudding 

postum 

postum           i 

postum 

postum 

4  pieces 

2  pieces 

3  pieces 

2  pieces 

one  bun 

1  roll,  1  piece 
cinnamon 
cake 

yes 

yes 

yes 

yes 

apple  sauce 

apple  sauce 

bananas 

cantaloupe 

bacon  and  eggs 

posttoasties 

dried  beef 
creamed 

beef  steak 
and  pota- 
toes 

twice  during 
day 

twice  during 
day 

once  during 
day 

once  during 
day 

BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

SAMUEL  H.  IV.  July  24-31. 

Filled  out  by  Miss  Leeds.    HOME  EATING  AND  SLEEPING 


Went  to  bed  at 

MONDAY 

9  D.  m. 

TUESDAY 

9  p.  m. 

WEDNESDAY 

8  D.  m. 

Got  up  at 

X  •*• 

7  a.  m. 

7  a.  m. 

7  a.  m. 

Slept  (well;  badly)  

Ate  for  supper: 
What?    How  much? 
Soup  

all  right 

all  right 

all  right 
No    supper; 

Bread  

2  slices 

4  slices 

coulof  not 

Butter 

ves 

ves 

find 

Meat  

mother 

Vegetables  ... 

Dessert  

ice  cream,  2 

Milk 

cents 
1  pint 

1  pint 

Ate  for  breakfast: 
What?    How  much? 

Milk  

not  very 
much 

Bread  .  . 

and  water 
4  slices 

4  slices 

Rolls  

Butter    . 

Fruit... 

yes 

yes 

yes 

Eggs  .  . 

soft  hoilpd 

Meat  

Bowels  moved: 
How  many  times?  

yes 
regular  — 
salts  at 
bed  time 

tomatoes 

yes 

NUTRITION  AND  GROWTH.  213 

control  the  home  food  in  some  measure.  First  of  all, 
at  the  mothers'  meeting  and  also  in  personal  inter- 
views the  mothers  were  urged  not  to  give  the  children 
tea  and  coffee,  but  milk,  and  not  to  allow  the  children 
to  eat  between  meals.  In  addition,  records  were  kept 
of  the  home  meals  of  each  child  during  four  weeks  out 
of  six.  These  were  not  accurate,  but  they  served  as 
indications  of  the  home  standard.  On  the  same  card 
was  kept  an  account  of  the  bed  time  and  rising  hour, 
of  how  the  child  slept  each  night,  and  of  the  bowel 
movements.  Four  typical  original  cards  are  appended; 
the  first  two  represent  the  food  in  the  homes  of  the  two 
special  caretakers.  Susan  was  very  seriously  under- 
nourished when  she  entered  the  special  class  ten  days 
later  than  the  other  children.  She  was  4.1  kilos  under 
weight  for  her  age  and  height.  In  five  weeks  she 
gained  3.1  kilos,  making  her  only  1  kilo  below  nor- 
mal. When  she  first  went  to  live  at  the  caretaker's 
it  was  hard  to  get  her  to  eat.  The  card  appended  shows 
the  way  she  was  eating  by  the  fourth  week.  She  had 
slept  restlessly  at  the  beginning,  but  after  the  first 
week  slept  well. 

George,  another  seriously  undernourished  child,  had 
about  the  same  experience,  but  did  not  gain  so  much. 

Wilbur,  a  boy  slightly  under  normal  in  height,  but 
normal  in  weight  for  his  height  and  age,  gained  3.6  kilos. 
His  card  was  made  out  by  his  mother,  who  is  intelligent 


214  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

and  reliable.  It  represents  the  diet  in  an  average  home 
of  German-American  people  in  good  circumstances, 
who  believe  in  hearty  meals. 

Samuel's  is  the  fourth  card,  made  out  by  a  social 
worker  from  the  boy's  own  account.  This  is  incom- 
plete and  probably  not  accurate,  but  it  gives  a  very 
good  idea  of  the  kind  of  meals  that  a  typical  boy  of 
the  city  streets  gets. 

Note  the  two-cent  ice  cream,  the  herring  and  toma- 
toes, and  the  entry  "no  supper;  could  not  find  mother." 
This  boy  commonly  ate  his  supper  on  the  street,  getting 
corn,  watermelon,  ice  cream,  pickles  and  fish  from 
push  carts. 

THE  DAILY  SCHOOL  LUNCH. 

In  planning  a  dietary  for  children  the  ideal  method 
would  be  to  study  each  individual  child  and  find  out 
exactly  its  rate  of  growth  and  the  amount  of  cell- 
building  food  necessary  for  this,  then  determine  how 
much  heat  and  energy  is  needed  by  the  child  in  order 
that  it  may  grow  properly,  work  and  play.  That 
the  requirements  for  different  individuals  vary  in  all 
these  respects  it  is  not  necessary  to  point  out.  However, 
the  ideal  plan  being  obviously  impracticable,  we  did 
the  next  best  thing. 

In  practice  we  must  resort  to  averages.  The  average 
age  of  this  class  was  ten  years  and  average  weight 


NUTRITION  AND  GROWTH.  215 

about  sixty  pounds,  or  28  kilos.  Studies  in  growth 
and  development  during  recent  years  have  shown 
that  during  the  school  period,  that  is,  from  seven  to 
fourteen,  the  rate  of  a  child's  growth  and  his  bodily 
activity  do  not  change  very  much.  A  dietary  suited, 
therefore,  to  the  needs  of  a  ten-year-old  child  will 
not  only  be  suitable  for  those  three  or  four  years 
younger,  but,  if  amply  planned,  will  be  suited  to  the 
requirements  of  the  succeeding  years  up  to  puberty. 
A  recent  study  of  the  work  of  scientists  in  different 
countries  on  children's  dietaries*  has  shown  that 
the  daily  ration  of  a  child  ten  years  old,  weighing 
sixty  pounds,  should  in  round  numbers  amount  to  be- 
tween 300  and  350  grams  of  available  food  composed  as 
follows:  proteids  60  grams,  carbohydrates  250,  and 
fats  45;  thus  yielding  a  total  of  about  1600  calories 
of  fuel  or  heat  value. 

From  what  we  knew  of  the  home  lives  of  the  children, 
it  was  probable  that  only  about  one-half  the  number 
were  receiving  enough  of  the  right  sort  of  food  at  home, 
while  the  other  half  were  seriously  undernourished. 
It  was,  therefore,  deemed  essential  to  make  the  one 
meal  at  school  relatively  larger  than  would  otherwise 
have  been  necessary  for  one  meal  out  of  three.  We 
decided  to  try  to  make  the  meal  average  about  800 


*  Bryant,  Louise  S.     Recent  Experimental  Work  on  Children's  Food  Needs. 
Dietetic  and  Hygienic  Gazette,  June,  1911,  N.  Y. 


216  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

calories  of  fuel  units  and  to  give  at  least  one-half 
the  amount  of  proteid  and  something  more  than  one- 
half  the  amount  of  fat  needed  during  the  day. 

MENUS. 

In  planning  the  menus  to  fulfill  this  dietary  we  ap- 
portioned to  each  child  at  least  two  slices  of  bread 
and  butter,  one  glass  of  milk  and  a  plate  of  ice  cream. 
These  were  the  constant  items.  Variety,  which  is 
nearly  as  important  as  absolute  food  values,  was 
gained  by  providing  seven  or  eight  different  meat  or 
substantial  vegetable  dishes.  We  had  in  all  ten  differ- 
ent menus,  so  that  no  menu  had  to  be  repeated  more 
than  three  times  in  the  twenty-nine  days.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  some  of  the  menus  proved  to  be  so  heavy  for 
summer  that  they  were  not  served  again :  for  example, 
scrambled  eggs  and  bacon,  and  hamburg  steak  with 
rice.  Again,  other  menus  proved  so  ideal  for  summer 
weather,  for  example,  lettuce  and  jam  sandwiches, 
or  shredded  wheat  with  milk  and  apple  sauce,  that 
they  were  repeated  several  times.  All  the  children 
liked  macaroni  and  cheese  so  well  that  it  was  also 
repeated  a  number  of  times.  The  daily  menus  were 
as  follows: — 

July  5 — Beef  stew,  bread  and  butter,  milk   and   ice 

cream. 
July  6. — Meat  pie,  bread  and  butter,  milk  and  ice  cream. 


NUTRITION  AND  GROWTH.  217 

July     7. — Creamed  fish,  bread  and  butter,  milk  and 

ice  cream. 
July  10. — Scrambled  eggs,  two  slices  of  bacon,  bread 

and  butter,  milk  and  ice  cream. 
July  11. — Macaroni  and   cheese,    bread  and  butter, 

milk  and  ice  cream. 
July  12. — Roast  beef  sandwich,  milk  and  vanilla  ice 

cream. 
July  13. — Creamed  beef,   baked  potato,   bread  and 

butter,  milk  and  ice  cream. 
July  14. — Lettuce  sandwich,  bread  and  butter,  milk 

and  ice  cream. 
July  17. — Jam  sandwich,  boiled  rice,  milk  and  ice 

cream. 
July  18. — Shredded  wheat  with  milk  and  sugar,  apple 

sauce,  milk  and  ice  cream. 
July   19. — Macaroni   and   cheese,   bread  and  butter, 

milk  and  ice  cream. 
July  20. — Bread  and  butter,  milk  (extra  bread)  and 

ice  cream. 
July  21. — Lettuce  sandwich,  bread  and  butter,  milk 

and  ice  cream. 

July  24. — Jam  sandwich,  rice,  milk  and  ice  cream. 
July  25. — Shredded  wheat,  prunes,  bread  and  butter 

and  ice  cream. 
July  26. — Bread    and    milk    with    extra    bread    and 

butter,  and  ice  cream. 


218  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

July  27. — Creamed  beef,  bread  and  butter,  milk  and 

ice  cream. 

July  28. — Lettuce  sandwich,  milk  and  ice  cream. 
July  31. — Jam  sandwich,  rice,  milk  and  ice  cream. 
Aug.  1. — Bread  and  butter,  milk  with  extra  bread 

and  ice  cream. 
Aug.    2. — Hamburg   steak,   rice,   bread   and   butter, 

milk  and  ice  cream. 
Aug.    3. — Macaroni   and   cheese,   bread   and   butter, 

milk  and  ice  cream. 
Aug.    4. — Lettuce  sandwich,  bread  and  butter,  milk 

and  ice  cream. 

Aug.    7. — Jam  sandwich,  rice,  milk  and  ice  cream. 
Aug.    8. — Bread  and  butter,  extra  bread  and  milk, 

and  ice  cream. 
Aug.    9. — Macaroni  and   cheese,   bread  and  butter, 

milk  and  ice  cream. 
Aug.  10. — Hamburg   steak,    rice,   bread   and   butter, 

milk  and  ice  cream. 
Aug.  11. — Lettuce  sandwich,  bread  and  butter,  milk 

and  ice  cream. 

Aug.  14. — Roast  beef  sandwich,  milk  and  ice  cream. 
Aug.  15. — Macaroni   and   cheese,   bread   and  butter, 

milk  and  ice  cream. 

In  order  to  guard  against  the  children  buying  candy 
after  school  it  was  necessary  to  make  the  lunch  espec- 
ially attractive,  and  there  seemed  no  better  way  to 


NUTRITION  AND  GROWTH. 

accomplish  this  than  to  furnish  ice  cream  each  day. 
This  also  served  the  purpose  of  keeping  up  the 
fat  and  proteid  values,  which  could  not  have  been 
done  if  we  had  given  fruit,  pastry,  or  pudding  for 
dessert. 

SERVICE. 

The  bread  and  butter  and  the  main  dish  were  served 
from  a  nearby  restaurant.  From  our  personal  knowl- 
edge of  the  manager  of  this  restaurant  we  were  assured 
that  the  quality  of  the  food  was  the  best  that  could 
be  had  for  the  money.  The  bread  and  butter  and  mam 
dish  cost  actually  between  six  and  seven  cents  and  three 
or  four  cents  per  portion  was  charged  for  the  service 
involved.  The  milk  and  ice  cream  were  secured  direct 
from  dealers.  The  milk  was  pasteurized  and  cost  ten 
cents  a  quart.  Four  quarts  of  ice  cream  of  a  good 
grade  were  served  daily  and  it  was  possible  to  give 
large  portions. 

FOOD  VALUES  AND   THE  AVERAGE  INTAKE  PER 
CHILD  PER  DAY. 

The  food  values  of  the  ten  specimen  lunches  were 
ascertained  as  follows : 

First,  the  recipes  of  the  main  dishes  were  secured 
from  the  manager  of  the  restaurant.  These  had  been 
formulated  at  the  time  of  ordering  the  lunches,  but  we 


220  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

got  the  exact  weights  and  measures  at  the  time  of 
the  first  serving  of  each  menu.  The  exact  amount  of 
bread  was  weighed  and  likewise  the  butter.  The  recipe 
for  the  ice  cream  we  were  able  to  secure  through  the 
courtesy  of  Mr.  Crane.  Considerable  interest  is  attached 
to  this  recipe  because  of  the  campaign  for  pure  ice 
cream  which  has  been  carried  on  for  several  years  past. 
In  1909  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  passed  an  act 
(Act  No.  38)  regulating  the  ingredients  of  ice  cream 
sold  in  the  state.  Most  of  the  sections  referred  to  the 
prohibition  of  coloring  matter,  gelatine,  eggs  in  excess, 
and  false  labels.  One  of  the  most  essential  stipulations 
for  our  purpose,  however,  was  the  section  regulating 
the  amount  of  butter  fat  to  be  used.  The  law  reads 
that  no  ice  cream  shall  be  sold  within  the  state  con- 
taining less  than  8  per  cent  butter  fat  except  where 
fruit  and  nuts  are  used  for  flavoring  and  then  it  shall 
not  contain  less  than  6  per  cent  of  butter  fat.  In  the 
recipe  given  to  us  by  Mr.  Crane,  which  was  in  terms  of 
1280  quarts,  the  actual  butter  fat  was  over  twice  that 
required  by  law. 

The  food  values  of  each  menu  were  determined  in 
detail,  each  ingredient  being  analyzed  and  its  quota 
of  proteid,  fat,  carbohydrate,  potential  energy  and 
calories  determined.  The  total  for  each  day  was 
estimated  on  the  basis  of  nineteen  portions,  the  number 
of  children  eating.  The  food  value  per  portion  was 


NUTRITION  AND  GROWTH. 

determined  by  dividing  the  total  by  nineteen.  Ten 
menus  were  used. 

The  first  three  days  the  lunches  served  were  not 
counted,  as  during  that  time  we  were  unable  to  secure 
the  recipes.  Twenty-seven  days,  therefore,  were  taken 
into  consideration. 

The  total  food  values  of  each  menu,  divided  accord- 
ing to  the  different  principles,  were  multiplied  by 
the  number  of  days  the  menu  had  been  served.  The 
grand  total  was  divided  by  twenty-seven,  giving  the 
average  total  food  value  for  each  day  and  this  was 
divided  by  nineteen  in  order  to  get  the  average  value 
per  portion.  A  summary  table  showing  the  total  food 
values  per  portion  of  the  different  menus,  follows: 

Proteid      Fat     Carbohydrate 
Materials  (gramg)   (gramg)       (gramg)          Calories 

1.  Bread    and    milk, 

double   portion, 

icecream 31.16     37.00         117.04          769.00 

2.  Bread,  roast  beef, 

milk,  ice  cream..    32.4       45.38  73.12          774.00 

3.  Jam  sandwich,  rice, 

milk,  ice  cream..    26.38     36.95         149.29          885.00 

4.  Hamburg  steak, 

rice,  bread  and 
butter,  milk,  ice 
cream 35.16  46.13  118.74  951.00 

5.  Macaroni  and 

cheese,  bread 
and  butter, 
milk,  ice  cream..  30.51  65.05  117.31  1019.00 


222  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

Proteid      Fat     Carbohydrate 
Materials  (grams)  (grams)       (grams )        Calories 

6.  Shredded  wheat 

with  sugar  and 
milk,  bread 
and  butter, 
prunes  and  ice 
cream 20.85  37.32  147.26  904.00 

7.  Lettuce  sandwich, 

with  dressing, 
bread  and  but- 
ter, milk  and 
icecream 23.17  37.60  105.47  745.00 

8.  Scrambled  eggs 

and  bacon, 
bread  and  but- 
ter, milk  and  ice 
cream 31.79  72.72  74.08  866.26 

9.  Creamed  beef, 

bread  and  but- 
ter, milk  and  ice 

cream 33.64     50.67  78.48          798.00 

10.  Creamed  beef, 
baked  potato, 
bread  and  but- 
ter, milk  and  ice 
cream 36.33  50.76  100.51  897.00 

Total  average  per  portion:  proteid  28;  fat  45;  carbohydrate 
115;  calories  881. 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  fat  is  very  high,  that  the 
average  per  portion  is  equal  to  the  total  standard  daily 
portion.  The  fat  is  mostly  derived  from  milk  and 
butter,  which  is  the  most  wholesome  form  for  children. 
The  children  whose  home  diet  was  most  lacking  in  fat 


NUTRITION  AND  GROWTH. 

were  watched  carefully  and  it  was  seen  that  they 
got  more  butter  than  the  others.  Several  learned  to 
eat  butter  for  the  first  time.  Again,  the  values  given 
above  took  no  account  of  waste.  They  are  based  on  the 
assumption  that  all  of  the  food  served  was  eaten  every 
day  which  of  course  was  not  strictly  true,  a  fair 
amount  being  lost  in  changing  from  platter  to  plate. 

RESULTS. 

The  good  results  of  the  feeding,  exercise  and  rest 
were  apparent  to  all.  In  several  cases,  children  who 
had  been  fussy  about  their  food,  erratic  hi  their  appe- 
tites, and  restless  at  night,  began  to  improve  immed- 
iately, and  the  final  week's  reports  were  uniformly 
good.  There  was  no  doubt  the  children  themselves 
were  interested  in  the  lunches  at  school.  What  they 
had  to  eat  was  one  of  the  mam  topics  of  conversation 
at  home  and  was  seconded  only  by  their  interest  in 
their  house  building  and  basket  weaving.  A  more 
exact  estimate  of  the  physical  gains  may  be  had  from 
the  measurements  taken  at  the  beginning  and  at  the 
close  of  the  class  work. 

NUTRITION  MEASUREMENTS. 

Before  the  class  work  started,  and  at  the  end  of  the 
six  weeks,  the  nutrition  of  every  child  was  measured  as 
follows : 


BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

COMPARATIVE  MEASUREMENTS  TAKEN  BEFORE  AND  AFTER 


HEIGHT  IN  CM. 

WEIGHT  IN  KILOS. 

NAME 

AGE 

eo 

"3 

H 

CO 

1 

% 

>t 

I 

i 

| 

O 

| 

1.  Abraham  L.. 

8 

115 

121 

119 

21 

24.1 

21 

2.  George  S.... 

8 

132 

121 

132 

21 

26.8 

22.9 

3.  Giovanni  A.  . 

9 

126 

126 

126 

25.9 

25 

25.1 

4.  Russell  F.... 

9 

124 

126 

124 

22 

25 

22.2 

5.  Ernest  H  

9 

135 

126 

135 

29.4 

28.17 

29.8 

6.  Samuel  H.  .  . 

9 

126 

126 

126 

27.3 

25 

27.8 

7.  Wilbur  B.... 

10 

129 

131 

129 

26 

26.27 

29.6 

8.  Henry  B  

10 

129 

131 

129 

25.4 

27.27 

25.8 

9.  Richmond  B. 

10 

135 

131 

135 

30 

29.54 

29.1 

10.  Oswald  Z.... 

11 

118 

135 

118 

23 

27.7 

21.3 

11.  Morgan  C..  . 

11 

137 

135 

137 

29 

30.9 

29.9 

12.  Roberts.... 

11 

140 

135 

140 

31.8 

30.9 

32 

Boys'  Average  .  . 

10— 

128.82 

128.67 

129.1 

24.3 

25.6 

26.4 

13.  Clara  S  

8 

120 

120 

122 

?S  7 

22.27 

94  3 

14.  Susan  C  

9 

124 

127 

125 

21.3 

25.45 

24.4 

15.  Agnes  D.... 

10 

128 

131 

128 

30.8 

25.9 

32 

16.  Julia  C. 

H 

135 

135 

135 

30  8 

27  72 

31.5 

17.  Flora  C 

13 

157 

1L8 

157 

49,  7 

47  27 

49,  3 

18.  Gertrude  B.  . 

13 

139 

148 

141 

36.7 

33.18 

38.4 

Girls'  Average.  . 

11- 

133.83 

134.67 

134.67 

31. 

35.3 

32.2 

General  Average  . 

10—U30.5 

IIU^ 

29.9 

28.3 

NUTRITION  AND  GROWTH. 

Six  WEEKS'  FEEDING,  SHOWING  RELATION  TO  STANDABD. 


CHEST  EXPANSION 

GRIP 

HAEMOGLOBIN 

Per  cent. 

Upper 

Lower 

CO 

M 

1-H 

CO 

a 

r-( 

CO 

£3 

l-H 

a 

u 

00 

H 

JJ 

§ 

* 

>> 

1 

W) 
3 

N»jl 

§ 

£ 

at 

"» 

£ 

< 

*» 

£ 

< 

M 

fc 

« 

2 

«? 

4 

5 

6 

6 

s 

7 

14-12 

9-8 

14-14 

40 

95 

5 

6 

8 

5 

6 

4 

13-14 

10-9 

6-7 

65 

100 

1 

6 

3 

1 

6 

1 

15-13 

13-12 

17-17 

70 

95 

2 

6 

2 

2 

6 

2 

10-8 

13-12 

6-5 

65 

80 

6 

6 

8 

5 

6 

7 

20-18 

13-12 

17-12 

70 

80 

4 

6 

5 

3 

6 

6 

20-17 

13-12 

15-19 

60 

95 

2 

7 

3 

2 

7 

4 

15-14 

15-14 

16-17 

65 

95 

4 

7 

3 

4 

7 

3 

11-10 

15-14 

12-10 

55 

95 

6 

7 

6 

6 

7 

6 

10-7 

15-14 

14-11 

95 

65 

4 

7 

5 

4 

7 

2 

10-8 

18-16 

8-10 

90 

100 

5 

7 

6 

4 

7 

6 

18-17 

18-16 

19-15 

80 

95 

5 

7 

6 

5 

7 

6 

20-19 

18-16 

22-22 

70 

100 

4 

6.4 

5 

3,8 

6.4 

4.5 

15-13 

14-13 

14-13 

69 

91 

2 

6 

= 
3 

4 

5 

3 

: 
10-8 

9-8 

: 

11-13 

~ 
70 

100 

1 

5 

4 

1 

5 

4 

2-3 

10-9 

13-8 

40 

85 

4 

6 

6 

5 

6 

6 

17-15 

13-12 

16-15 

65 

100 

2 

7 

6 

2 

6 

5 

16-14 

14-14 

19-16 

70 

95 

3.5 

7 

6 

4 

7 

4 

18-15 

18-17 

15-18 

90 

95 

3 

7 

5 

4 

7 

3 

20-17 

18-17 

17-16 

70 

100 

2.6 

6.1 

5 

3.3 

6 

4.2 

7-6 

7-6 

8-7 

67 

96 

3.5 

6.3 

5 

3.7 

6.3 

4.4    14-13 

14-13 

14-14 

68 

93 

BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

First,  the  height  and  weight  were  taken  without 
clothes.  This  gave  only  the  most  general  features 
of  their  growth,  and  did  not  indicate  vitality,  which 
was  then  determined  by  measuring  the  upper  and  lower 
chest  expansion  and  the  grip  of  the  right  and  left 
hand.  The  surest  single  indication  of  nutrition  being 
the  state  of  the  blood,  a  haemoglobin  test  was  made 
in  each  case.  This  part  of  the  work  was  done  by 
Dr.  Lippert,  a  medical  practitioner  in  Philadelphia 
and  one  of  the  Clinic's  assistants.  At  the  same  time 
that  the  children  were  being  weighed  and  measured, 
Dr.  Lippert  made  a  general  estimate  of  their  nutrition 
by  observing  their  general  appearance,  the  tonicity 
of  the  skin,  the  superficial  circulation  and  the  muscula- 
ture. Dr.  Lippert 's  report  is  given  below  in  full. 

The  accompanying  table  shows  all  of  the  data 
secured  in  this  experiment.  It  will  be  noted  that  the 
arrangement  is  as  follows :  First,  the  boys  and  girls  are 
grouped  separately  and  run  according  to  age  in  each 
case.  In  each  case  the  original  and  final  measurement 
is  compared  with  the  normal. 

NORMAL  STANDARDS. 

The  normal  standards  were  secured  in  the  following 
way:  The  normal  height  was  taken  from  Hastings* 

*  Hastings,  William  W.,  Manual  of  Physical  Measurements  for  Boys  and 
Girls,  Springfield,  Mass.,  1902. 


NUTRITION  AND  GROWTH.  227 

and  represents  the  numerical  average  standard  for 
each  age  and  sex.  The  normal  weight  was  determined 
by  a  slightly  different  plan.  The  height  on  the  first 
day  was  taken  and  the  normal  weight  was  ascertained 
by  reference  to  Wood's*  tables.  His  tables,  formu- 
lated after  measuring  several  thousand  cases  during 
a  period  of  ten  years,  differ  from  the  usual  height 
and  weight  tables  in  that  they  give  for  each  age  a 
possible  range  in  height  and  weight,  and  indicate 
not  merely  a  single  height  and  weight  standard,  but 
the  ratio  of  weight  to  height.  For  example:  a  boy 
of  nine  years  may  be  anywhere  from  119  to  137  centi- 
meters in  height  and  still  not  depart  from  the  normal. 
Correspondingly  he  may  range  from  23  to  nearly  30 
kilos  in  weight,  but  the  weight  must  correspond  with 
the  height,  that  is,  for  every  centimeter  of  height  he 
should  have  a  certain  number  of  grams  in  weight. 
It  will  be  readily  seen  that  in  estimating  normal 
standards  in  a  heterogeneous  group,  such  as  would 
be  found  in  any  American  community,  this  kind  of 
table  is  far  more  accurate  than  the  usual  form.  For  a 
specific  example  in  the  table,  take  the  fifth  boy,  aged 
nine,  who  was  9  centimeters  taller  than  the  normal 
height  given  by  Hastings  for  nine-year-old  boys.  On 
the  other  hand,  according  to  Wood's  table,  the  normal 


*Wood,  Thomas  Dennison,  Ninth  Year  Book  of  the  Nat.  Soc.  for  Study  Of 
Educ.,  pp.  34,  35. 


228  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

weight  for  a  boy  nine  years  old  whose  height  is  135 
centimeters,  is  28.17  kilos,  and  his  weight  was  29.4 
kilos,  thus  being  slightly  above  normal  for  his  height 
and  age.  In  the  case  of  the  tenth  boy,  aged  eleven 
years,  height  118  centimeters,  a  slightly  different 
method  had  to  be  followed.  According  to  Hastings 
he  was  17  centimeters  under  normal  in  height.  Accord- 
ing to  Wood,  the  very  lowest  possible  height  for  a 
"normal"  boy  of  eleven,  is  129.4  centimeters.  He 
did  not  come  up  to  that  height  and  there  was  there- 
fore no  way  of  estimating  his  normal  weight  accord- 
ing to  his  height  and  age.  One  hundred  and  eighteen 
centimeters,  according  to  Wood's  tables,  is  the  lowest 
height  limit  for  an  eight-year-old  boy.  In  this  case, 
therefore,  we  took  for  the  standard  of  comparison 
the  lowest  possible  weight  for  an  eleven-year-old 
boy  as  given  by  Wood  irrespective  of  height,  and 
according  to  this  the  boy  was  4.7  kilos  subnormal  in 
weight. 

It  will  be  noted  that  in  the  height  and  weight  meas- 
urements the  class  as  a  whole  did  not  depart  signally 
from  the  normal.  The  boys'  average  weight,  starting 
1.3  kilo  below  normal,  at  the  end  was  nearly  1  kilo 
above,  a  net  gain  of  2.1  kilos.  The  girls  started  4  kilos 
below  normal  and  at  the  end  were  still  3  kilos  from 
normal;  showing  a  net  gain  of  1.2  kilos.  The  total 
average  gain  for  the  class  was  0.6  kilo. 


NUTRITION  AND  GROWTH.  229 

Of  all  the  measurements  taken  at  the  beginning 
and  end  of  the  six  weeks'  work,  the  chest  expansion 
figures  made  the  worst  showing,  although  there  was 
a  general  average  improvement  of  0.7  centimeters 
for  the  class.  Only  one  child,  a  boy,  started  with  a 
normal  chest  expansion  and  he  attained  2  centimeters 
over  normal.  Two  other  boys,  starting  below  normal, 
gained  so  as  to  be  above  normal  at  the  end,  and  one 
girl  came  up  to  normal. 

The  grip  measurements  were  very  varied.  The 
general  average  showed  an  increase  of  1  kilo  in  the 
left  hand.  On  the  whole,  the  girls  showed  the  most 
improvement.  Starting  at  normal,  the  girls  made  a 
general  average  increase  over  normal  of  1  kilo  for 
each  hand. 

In  general,  the  most  striking  improvement  was 
shown  in  the  haemoglobin  tests,  where  the  class  average 
rose  from  68  to  92  plus.  The  girls'  average  changed 
from  67  to  96.  The  boys'  average  changed  from  69  to 
91. 

THE  HAEMOGLOBIN  TESTS.* 

The  haemoglobin  value  in  any  individual  instance 
is  determined  by  the  quantitative  method,  in  which 
the  color  of  a  solution  of  blood  of  unknown  valuation 
is  compared  with  the  color  of  a  known  valuation. 


*  Reported  by  Frieda  E.  Lippert,  M.  D. 


230  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

For  this  test  divers  forms  of  apparatus  are  used. 
Of  them  all  that  of  von  Fleischl  is  the  most  accurate 
and  was  the  instrument  used  in  all  of  the  analytical 
tests  with  the  pupils  of  our  special  class.  In  this 
instrument,  the  color  of  the  blood  diluted  in  definite 
proportions  with  distilled  water  in  one  compartment 
of  a  tiny  well,  was  compared  with  that  of  distilled 
water  in  an  adjacent  compartment,  beneath  which, 
by  means  of  a  thumb  screw,  a  wedge  of  red  glass 
(Cassius'  Gold-purpur)  is  moved  till  the  tints  of  the 
two  chambers  correspond  exactly.  The  frame  holding 
the  wedge  bears  a  graduated  scale  showing  the  haemo- 
globin value  in  each  individual.  Normally,  the  blood 
contains  a  little  less  than  14  per  cent  haemoglobin. 
The  number  100  on  von  Fleischl's  scale  corresponds 
to  13.44  per  cent. 

A.  L.,  Case  63.     Aet.  7. 

1.  Stoop  shouldered,  musculature  poor,  undernour- 

ished.    Haemoglobin  value  40. 

2.  This  child  has  made  gains  in  height,  in  muscular 

tonicity  and  in  chest  expansion.  Haemoglobin 
value  95;  an  increase  of  7.39  per  cent  in  actual 
value. 

G.  S.,  Case  484.    Aet.  9. 

1.  Thin   but   well   nourished.      Musculature   good. 
Haemoglobin  value  65. 


NUTRITION  AND  GROWTH.  231 

2.  This  child  shows  a  slight  gain  in  weight  and  an 
increase  in  chest  expansion.  Haemoglobin  value 
100;  an  increase  of  4.71  per  cent  in  actual 
value. 

G.  A.,  Case  441.    Aet.  9. 

1.  Well  nourished.     Haemoglobin  value  70. 

2.  General  appearance  improved.    Increase  of  mus- 

cular tonicity.  Haemoglobin  value  95;  an 
increase  of  3.36  per  cent  in  actual  value. 

R.  F.,  Case  417.    Aet.  9. 

1.  Sallow,    pale;    bad   posture,    musculature   poor. 

Haemoglobin  value  65. 

2.  The  physical  condition  here  is  apparently  sta- 

tionary. Haemoglobin  value  80;  an  increase 
of  2.02  per  cent  in  actual  value. 

E.  H.,  Case  402.    Aet.  9. 

1.  Stoop  shouldered,  lateral  spinal  curvature.    Mus- 

culature shows  lack  of  tone.  Haemoglobin 
value  70. 

2.  The  physical  condition  here  is  apparently  sta- 

tionary; there  is  a  small  increment  in  weight 
and  in  chest  expansion.  Haemoglobin  value 
80;  an  increase  of  1.35  per  cent  in  actual  value. 

S.  H.,  Case  456.    Aet.  9. 

1.  Well    nourished,    musculature    good.      Haemo- 
globin value  60, 


232  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

2.  The  physical  condition  is  apparently  the  same. 
There  is  a  very  small  increment  in  weight  and 
chest  expansion.  Haemoglobin  value  95;  an 
increase  of  4.70  per  cent  in  actual  value. 

W.  B.,  Case  464.    Aet.  10. 

1.  Stoutly  built,  well  developed,  musculature  good. 

Haemoglobin  value  65. 

2.  General  appearance  improved.    Increase  of  mus- 

culature tonicity  is  marked.  Gain  of  height 
and  weight.  Haemoglobin  value  95;  an  increase 
of  4.03  per  cent  in  actual  value. 

R.  B.,  Case  29.    Aet.  10. 

1.  Sallow,  pale.    Adenoid  facies,  protruding  shoulder 

blades,  whole  posture  bad.  Haemoglobin  value 
65. 

2.  General  appearance  improved;  increase  of  mus- 

culature tonicity;  increased  chest  expansion. 
Haemoglobin  value  95;  an  increase  of  5.37 
per  cent  in  actual  value. 

H.  B.,  Case  182.    Aet.  10. 

1.  Round  shouldered,  posture  infantile,  fairly  well 

nourished.    Haemoglobin  value  95. 

2.  This  boy  does  not  show  a  marked  change.    There 

is  increase  of  musculature  tonicity  and  a  slight 
gain  in  chest  expansion.  Haemoglobin  value 
65;  a  decrease  of  4.03  per  cent  in  actual  value. 


NUTRITION  AND  GROWTH.  233 

0.  Z.,  Case  382.    Aet.  11. 

1.  Posture  bad,  gait  poor;  general  asymmetry;  poorly 

nourished,    poor    musculature.      Haemoglobin 
value  90. 

2.  The  physical  condition  of  this  child  is  apparently 

stationary.     Haemoglobin  value  has  improved 
slightly, — 100    per  cent;  an  increase  of   1.35 
per  cent  in  actual  value. 
J.  C.,  Case  55.    Aet.  11. 

1.  Well  nourished,  good  musculature.    Haemoglobin 

value  80. 

2.  A    slight   improvement   in   general    appearance. 

A  slight  gain  in  weight  and  in  muscular  tonicity. 
An  improvement  in  chest  expansion.     Haemo- 
globin   value  95;  an  increase  of  2.01  per  cent 
in  actual  value. 
R.  S.,  Case  267.     Aet.  11. 

1.  Good    posture,    good    musculature,    full    chest, 

well  nourished.    Haemoglobin  value  70. 

2.  This   child   shows   an   improvement   in   general 

appearance.     There  are  gains  in  each  detail, — 
height,   weight,  muscular  tonicity    and   chest 
expansion.    Haemoglobin  value  100;  an  increase 
of  4.03  per  cent  in  actual  value. 
C.  S.,  Case  479.    Aet.  8. 

1.  Fairly  well  nourished,  musculature  shows  lack 
of  tone.    Haemoglobin  value  70, 


234  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

2.  This  child  shows  an  improvement  in  general 
appearance.  There  is  an  increase  in  height, 
weight,  and  muscular  tonicity.  Haemoglobin 
value  100;  an  increase  of  4.03  per  cent  in 
actual  value. 

S.  C.,  Case  459.    Aet.  9. 

1.  Stoop    shouldered,    entire    posture    bad,    lateral 

spinal  curvature,  poorly  nourished.  Haemo- 
globin value  40. 

2.  An    improvement    in    general    appearance.      A 

marked  gain  in  weight,  in  muscular  tonicity 
and  an  increase  in  chest  expansion.  Haemo- 
globin value  85;  an  increase  of  6.05  per  cent 
in  actual  value. 

F.  D.,  Case  247.     Aet.  10. 

1.  Well  nourished.    Haemoglobin  value  65. 

2.  A  markedly  improved  general   appearance.     A 

gain  in  height,  weight  and  muscular  tonicity. 
An  increased  chest  expansion.  Haemoglobin 
value  100;  an  increase  of  4.71  per  cent  in  actual 
value. 

M.C.,  Case  457.     Aet.  11. 

1.  Stoop  shouldered;  general  asymmetry,  well  nour- 

ished. Musculature  denotes  lack  of  tone. 
Haemoglobin  value  70. 

2.  A  markedly  improved  general   appearance,   an 

increase  of  height  and  weight;  improved  mus- 


NUTRITION  AND  GROWTH.  235 

cular  tonicity;  increased  chest  expansion. 
Haemoglobin  value  95;  an  increase  of  3.36 
per  cent  in  actual  value. 

F.  C.,  Case  327.    Aet.  12. 

1.  Well  nourished.     Haemoglobin  value  90. 

2.  This  child  has  remained  apparently  stationary 

in  physical  status.  Haemoglobin  value  95; 
an  increase  of  0.67  per  cent  in  actual  value. 

G.  B.,  Case  74.    Aet.  13. 

1.  Robust,     well     nourished,     good     musculature. 

Haemoglobin  value  70. 

2.  General  appearance  improved.    Haemoglobin  value 

100;  an  increase  of  4.03  per  cent  in  actual  value. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

REPORT  FROM  THE  SOCIAL  SERVICE  DEPARTMENT. 

BY  LOUISE   STEVENS   BRYANT. 

When  a  child  is  brought  to  the  Psychological  Clinic 
it  means  that  he  has  in  some  way  departed  from  the 
normal,  and  the  Clinic  is  the  agent  of  society  to  which 
the  parent  or  teacher  turns  for  help.  As  a  rule  other 
social  agencies  are  necessary  to  remedy  the  condition, 
— whether  moral,  mental,  or  physical, — that  is  most 
prominently  associated  with  the  deviation.  Examina- 
tion and  diagnosis  are  not  enough  to  indicate  even  to 
the  exceptionally  cultured  parents  or  teachers  the  means 
of  cure  and  treatment.  Hospitals,  operations,  special 
diet,  exceptional  opportunities  for  recreation,  judicious 
neglect,  special  methods  of  education, — these  are  all 
outside  the  normal  experience  or  expectation  of  people 
who  care  for  ordinary  children. 

There  must,  therefore,  be  a  connecting  link  between 
the  Clinic  and  the  means  of  carrying  out  its  recom- 
mendations, and  this  link  is  formed  by  the  Social  Service 
department.  The  social  data  collected  by  this  depart- 
ment are  reported  as  a  part  of  the  clinical  picture 
and  description  of  each  child  and  also  in  the  section  on 
luncheons  and  nutrition.  In  the  following  paragraphs 

(236) 


SOCIAL  SERVICE  DEPARTMENT.      237 

X 

will  be  presented  a  brief  statement  of  the  facts  collected 
during  the  six  weeks  of  the  school,  together  with  what 
has  been  attempted  and  accomplished  in  each  case 
since.  Two  social  workers  regularly  in  the  employ 
of  the  Clinic  devoted  their  whole  time  to  working 
with  the  class  children  and  others  who  came  for  a  first 
examination.  At  the  same  time  eight  volunteer  workers 
from  the  student  body,  acting  under  their  direction, 
took  part  in  the  visiting.  Of  these  four  were  taking 
the  course  in  social  work  offered  by  the  Laboratory  of 
Psychology,  and  devoted  three  hours  daily  to  visiting 
as  a  required  part  of  the  course.  The  variety  of  experi- 
ence represented  in  this  class,  which  tended  to  make 
the  discussions  of  unusual  interest,  is  shown  in  the  fact 
that  one  man  was  a  superintendent  of  schools,  another 
a  school  principal,  one  woman  a  graduate  dietician,  and 
the  other  a  layman  who  had  just  become  interested  in 
social  work. 

During  the  six  weeks  the  home  of  each  child  in  the 
class  was  either  visited  every  week  or  communicated 
with  by  letter.  Twelve  children  were  living  with  their 
own  families,  and  these  homes  were  each  visited  at 
least  three  times,  most  of  them  four  times,  and  some 
more  often.  Altogether  72  visits  in  connection  with  the 
Special  Class  were  made  to  children's  homes,  not  includ- 
ing visits  to  caretakers.  In  addition,  22  written  com- 
munications were  received  from  homes.  In  the  cases 


238  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

of  children  living  with  the  caretakers  of  the  Clinic, 
Mrs.  Bryant  or  Miss  McCall  made  at  least  two  visits 
to  each  of  the  houses,  sometimes  more  than  this.  In 
addition,  Dr.  Lippert  was  visiting  one  of  the  houses  at 
least  once  a  week,  and  the  Clinic  was  in  daily  com- 
munication with  both  houses  by  means  of  the  girl  who 
brought  the  children  in  the  morning  and  called  for  them 
in  the  afternoon. 

Parents  were  encouraged  to  visit  the  class,  and  every 
mother  who  was  in  town  did  visit  at  least  once.  Two 
special  meetings  were  arranged  for  them,  the  first  one 
on  the  Friday  of  the  first  week,  and  the  other  on  the  last 
Friday.  Six  mothers  and  the  housemother  of  one  of 
Clinic  homes  attended  the  first  meeting.  Miss  Farrell 
talked  to  each  mother  alone  as  they  came  in,  and  then 
all  together  about  their  children.  Mrs.  Bryant  then 
told  them  about  the  luncheons,  and  what  it  was  hoped 
the  regular  food,  rest  and  exercise  would  do,  and 
asked  their  co-operation  at  home.  The  mothers  were 
much  interested  and  promised  readily  to  do  all  they 
could.  At  the  second  meeting  eight  mothers  were 
present,  and  while  the  children's  school  accomplish- 
ments were,  of  course,  the  main  interest,  they  talked 
eagerly  of  the  home  life  and  the  future  of  their  boys 
and  girls. 

1 .  Giovanni  A .  This  case  required  an  unusual  amount 
of  social  visiting,  both  before  and  during  the  six  weeks, 


SOCIAL  SERVICE  DEPARTMENT.      239 

because  the  family  were  firmly  convinced  that  nothing 
could  be  done  for  the  boy.  When  the  social  worker 
first  called  to  take  G.  to  the  hospital  for  the  preliminary 
work,  she  found  him  entirely  unresponsive,  very  timid 
and  cringing.  He  would  not  talk  and  at  times  when 
called  for  would  run  away  and  hide.  In  the  six  weeks 
from  July  5th  to  August  15th  he  responded  to  the  affec- 
tion which  met  him  everywhere  and  made  any  little 
request  with  frank  confidence.  At  first  one  of  the 
workers  in  the  Social  Service  department  called  for  him 
and  took  him  home  each  day,  because  from  all  accounts 
we  confidently  expected  that  he  would  never  come 
or  get  home  by  himself.  In  a  surprisingly  short  time 
his  manner  had  so  changed  that  he  was  told  he  could 
come  and  go  alone,  which  he  did. 

When  he  asked  one  of  the  social  workers  if  he  might 
bring  his  brother  to  visit  the  school  one  day  and  was 
told  he  must  ask  Miss  Farrell,  he  immediately  went 
to  her.  Again,  at  the  closing  of  school  he  went  to  Dr. 
Holmes  and  asked  if  he  might  come  back  next  year. 
He  joked  with  his  teachers  and  seemed  to  feel  sure  of 
their  understanding  and  sympathy. 

For  the  past  two  years  his  school  record  had  been  of 
the  worst,  his  teacher  stating  that  he  was  hopelessly 
bad  and  that  in  her  opinion  it  would  be  a  waste  of  time 
to  have  him  in  the  Special  Class  of  the  summer  school, 
as  he  had  only  wit  enough  to  be  bad.  In  a  special 


240  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

school  where  he  had  been  for  two  years  he  played  truant 
three  or  four  days  out  of  each  week.  Our  records  show 
that  during  the  six  weeks  here  he  did  not  miss  school 
once,  though  for  some  days  he  had  no  carfare  and  was 
obliged  to  walk  from  his  uncle's  home,  a  distance  of 
over  two  miles. 

While  his  attendance  was  perhaps  largely  due  to  the 
interesting  nature  of  the  school  work,  this  interest  itself 
was  greatly  aided  by  his  changed  environment.  His 
uncle's  home,  where  he  lived  this  summer,  is  cleaner, 
better  ventilated,  and  far  more  attractively  situated 
than  his  own  home.  It  is  a  three  story  brick  building, 
with  store  and  living  room  on  the  first  floor,  and  work 
room,  sleeping  rooms  and  bath  room  on  the  floors 
above. 

G.'s  uncle  is  far  kinder  to  the  boy  than  his  home 
people,  while  his  wife  is  a  cheerful,  comely  young 
woman  of  fair  education.  Out  of  school  hours  G.'s 
chief  companion  in  the  new  neighborhood  was  the  son 
of  a  neighbor  who  said  that  she  would  rather  have 
G.  as  a  playmate  for  her  boy  than  any  other  child 
she  knew.  Not  least  among  the  forces  that  helped 
in  G.'s  improvement  was  this  atmosphere  of  appro- 
bation. Whereas  mother,  father  and  teacher  could  say 
no  good  word  to  or  of  the  boy,  now  both  at  home  and 
at  school  he  was  met  with  affection  and  encouragement. 
He  responded  so  freely  to  this  that  all  who  knew  him 


SOCIAL  SERVICE  DEPARTMENT.      241 

wonder  why  it  was  that  father,  mother  and  teacher 
united  in  declaring  him  hopelessly  bad. 

During  the  school  period  G.  was  taken  to  a  nearby 
hospital  for  a  special  eye  examination,  as  his  eyes  were 
bothering  him.     The  examining  physician  said  that 
probably  nothing  short  of  an  operation  could  save  his 
sight.     G.  was  taken  to  another  hospital,  where  the 
resident  physician  thought  it  advisable  before  resorting 
to  an  operation  to  try  every  means  of  remedying  the 
condition  by  refraction.    He  was  entered  there  about 
one  month  after  the  summer  school  closed  and  kept 
for  over  a  week  for  the  first  refraction.     After  two 
months  of  experimenting  with  new  lenses,  he  was  re- 
examined  and  is  to  have  new  glasses,  as  his  eyes  have 
changed  very  much  for  the  better  under  the  treatment. 
Meantime,  the  boy's  home  and  school  environment 
are  about  what  they  were  before  he  joined  the  special 
class.    He  is  living  at  his  father's  house  where,  because 
of  the  mother's  improved  health,  things  are  a  shade 
better  than  they  were.    An  unsuccessful  attempt  was 
made  to  have  him  placed  in  a  regular  class  in  another 
school.    He  is  in  the  same  school  and  in  a  special  class, 
the  only  change  being  that  he  is  in  the  "  backward  class  " 
instead  of  the   class  for   "incorrigibles".     Repeated 
attempts  to  get  reports  on  his  present  condition  in 
school  have  been  unsuccessful,  so  that  we  do  not  know 
how  he  is  doing  in  his  lessons.     When  he  comes  to 


BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

the  Clinic  or  is  taken  for  his  eye  treatment  he  is  the 
same  friendly,  affectionate  little  boy  that  he  was  in 
the  summer.  The  family  are  now  ready  to  let  us  help 
the  boy  in  any  way  we  can,  and  it  is  probable  that  he 
is  being  treated  with  far  more  consideration  than  when 
he  was  believed  by  all  to  be  hopeless  and  not  worth 
saving. 

2.  Wilbur  B.    During  the  six  weeks  the  home  was 
visited  three  times  and  his  mother  called  three  times. 
His  mother  thought  that  he  unproved  generally  during 
the  summer,  and  at  her  earnest  request  he  was  admitted 
in  the  fall  to  the  speech  class  held  weekly  at  the  Clinic. 
His  speech  is  improving  so  rapidly  that  the  teacher 
believes  his  former  difficulty  was  largely  a  slovenly 
habit  rather  than  a  fundamental  defect. 

3.  Richmond  B.    No  special  social  work  was  neces- 
sary in  the  case  of  R.  B.    The  home  was  visited  several 
times  during  the  six  weeks  and  his  mother  called  twice. 
She  seemed  delighted  with  the  interest  the  boy  took 
in  his  school  work  and  considered  that  he  had  changed 
for  the  better  in  every  way.    Physically  he  improved 
in  one  respect.     He  had  been  over  weight  but  lost 
1  kg.    He  is  the  only  boy  in  the  class  who  shows  a  loss 
in  the  hemoglobin  test.    In  the  fall  he  was  brought  for 
entrance  in  the  speech  class,  but  as  his  speech  had 
not  improved  before,  after  one  full  year  of  work,  he  was 


SOCIAL  SERVICE  DEPARTMENT.      243 

not  admitted  to  the  class.  An  attempt  will  be  made 
to  have  him  enter  a  special  class  in  the  public  school, 
as  he  seems  to  be  decidedly  in  need  of  individual  atten- 
tion. 

4.  Henry  B.     Three  visits  were  made  to  Henry's 
home  by  the  social  workers.    His  parents  reported  that 
he  improved  physically  and  slept  much  better.    Dur- 
ing one  of  the  visits,  having  ascertained  that  Mr.  B. 
was  ambitious  for  the  boy  to  enter  a  profession  of  some 
sort,  the  social  worker  discouraged  this  idea  and  sug- 
gested instead  that  the  boy  be  allowed  to  learn  the 
use  of  tools  and  to  acquire  a  manual  trade.     The 
mother,  who  seemed  to  be  more  awake  to  Henry's 
deficiency  than  the  father,  was  persuaded  to  enter  him 
in  a  special  class  in  the  public  school  in  the  fall.    He  is 
doing  so  well  that  his  teacher,  who  happens  to  have 
very  low  grade  children,  wished  to  know  why  he  was 
considered  in  need  of  special  class  work,  as  he  formed  a 
striking  contrast  to  the  children  usually  sent  her. 

5.  Gertrude  B.    There  was  no  change  in  the  social 
environment  of  G.  B.  during  the  six  weeks.    She  was 
taken  on  three  different  occasions  to  the  oculist,  twice 
to  the  dentist,  and  once  to  a  neurologist  for  general 
treatment.     None   of   this,    however,    was   new   and 
while  it  entailed  a  great  deal  of  work  on  the  part  of  the 
social  workers,  it  had  no  special  bearing  on  the  develop- 


244  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

ment  of  her  case.  On  her  return  to  the  regular  school 
in  the  fall,  where  she  is  in  the  third  grade  B,  the  teacher 
reported  that  she  was  greatly  improved  over  last 
year,  in  both  conduct  and  lessons.  The  special  treat- 
ment of  her  eyes  is  having  a  good  effect  and  the  partial 
blindness  is  rapidly  clearing  up. 

6.  Susan  C.  Susan's  original  environment  has 
already  been  described.  A  week  after  the  special  class 
opened  she  was  placed  with  a  special  caretaker  under 
direction  of  the  Clinic.  At  once  she  began  to  show  im- 
provement. When  she  entered  the  caretaker's  home 
she  did  not  know  how  to  eat  properly.  Her  appetite 
was  erratic  and  for  the  first  two  days  she  ate  almost 
nothing.  She  had  been  used  to  sweets  and  spiced 
foods  and  was  not  accustomed  to  simple,  unseasoned 
food.  As  soon  as  she  got  used  to  this,  however,  she  be- 
gan to  improve,  and  after  the  first  week  she  had  gained 
so  much  that  her  clothes  failed  to  meet  around  the 
waist.  At  first  her  sleeping  was  interrupted  by  spells 
of  fright  and  she  would  call  out  that  she  saw  "  bogies". 
This  ceased  after  a  short  time.  Her  teeth  were  seriously 
in  need  of  care  and  she  was  taken  to  the  dental  dispen- 
sary at  City  Hall,  where  a  specialist  tried  to  save  the 
three  worst  teeth.  In  the  end,  however,  these  had 
to  be  removed. 

The  nutrition  test  gave  a  far  more  satisfactory 
result  with  this  child  than  with  any  other.  She  grew 


SOCIAL  SERVICE  DEPARTMENT.      245 

1  cm.  in  height,  which  brought  her  within  1  cm.  of 
normal.  In  weight  she  gained  6.2  kg.  in  five  weeks, — 
over  a  pound  a  week.  Her  chest  expansion  increased 
3  cm.  and  was  brought  up  within  1  cm.  of  normal. 
Her  grip  changed  from  2.3  to  13.8  kg.,  which  made 
her  at  the  end  of  the  time  3  kg.  above  normal  on 
the  right  hand  and  1  kg.  below  on  the  left.  Her 
haemoglobin  percentage  changed  from  40  to  85  per 
cent. 

Because  of  these  striking  results  of  physical  care  and 
change  in  social  environment  it  may  be  well  to  describe 
in  detail  her  daily  regimen. 

She  was  living  in  the  home  of  one  of  the  special  care- 
takers, which  has  already  been  described  in  the  begin- 
ning of  this  report.  The  essential  features  are  the 
airiness  of  the  house,  especially  of  the  sleeping 
quarters,  good  sanitary  arrangements,  and  the  excellent 
food  the  children  receive.  She  rose  each  morning  at  six. 
She  was  responsible  for  making  her  bed  and  keeping 
her  room  in  order.  She  assisted  in  setting  the  table  for 
breakfast,  composed  usually  of  bread  and  milk,  and 
after  breakfast  she  helped  clear  away  the  dishes. 
At  8.15  with  the  other  children  in  the  house  she  started 
to  walk  to  school,  a  distance  of  a  mile.  From  a  quarter 
to  nine  to  four  in  the  afternoon  she  was  in  school 
under  the  continual  supervision  of  the  teachers.  At 
luncheon  she  sat  near  a  teacher,  so  that  her  eating  might 


246  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

be  supervised.  It  was  seen  that  she  had  all  she  wanted 
and  that  she  chewed  her  food  as  well  as  the  wretched 
condition  of  her  teeth  permitted.  At  four  o'clock  she 
walked  home.  The  balance  of  the  afternoon  was  spent 
in  play,  usually  in  the  back  yard  when  the  weather 
permitted.  She  was  the  leader  among  the  other 
children,  inventing  and  directing  the  games.  At  supper 
she  helped  set  the  table  and  clear  away,  and  after  more 
play  went  to  bed  at  eight  o'clock. 

This  regular  life  was  in  marked  contrast  to  her  former 
existence  in  a  very  crowded,  stuffy  rear  house.  She 
had  never  sat  down  to  a  table  before,  and  had  no  notion 
of  how  to  eat.  Her  sleeping  had  been  in  a  close  room, 
apparently  troubled  by  dreams  of  bogies,  and  most  of 
her  waking  hours  were  spent  in  running  about  the  streets 
and  alleys  of  the  neighborhood. 

Because  of  the  rapid  improvement  shown  in  her 
condition  during  the  summer,  it  was  decided  to  have 
her  placed  definitely  under  the  care  of  the  Clinic  for  six 
months.  Arrangements  were  made  with  the  Society 
for  Organizing  Charity  and  with  a  private  individual, 
to  pay  for  her  board  and  lodging  at  the  house  of  the 
same  caretaker  with  whom  she  lived  during  the  summer. 
She  is  attending  the  regular  public  school,  where  she  is 
in  the  second  grade,  and  her  spelling  and  arithmetic 
marks  are  consistently  100.  She  comes  to  the  speech 
class  at  the  Clinic,  and  can  now  make  all  the  sounds, 


SOCIAL  SERVICE  DEPARTMENT.       247 

and  when  she  speaks  slowly  she  is  perfectly  intelligible. 
The  Dean  of  the  Dental  School  of  the  University  has 
become  personally  interested  in  her  case  and  is  super- 
intending her  orthodontic  treatment.  At  his  suggestion 
and  under  the  direction  of  another  physician  her  nu- 
trition is  being  stimulated  by  minute  doses  of  thyroid. 
After  three  months  we  can  say  that  her  summer's 
forging  ahead  was  neither  accidental  nor  a  merely  tem- 
porary manifestation. 

7.  Julia  C.  Julia  presents  no  special  social  problem. 
Her  home,  which  is  decidedly  good  in  every  respect,  was 
visited  on  three  different  occasions  and  Mrs.  C.  called 
twice.  The  mother  and  father  became  enthusiastic  over 
the  progress  she  was  making.  They  consider  the  most 
significant  advance  to  be  the  growth  of  responsibility. 
She  had  never  been  able  to  go  on  the  street  cars  alone 
or  to  count  money,  but  after  the  first  week  she  was  able 
to  come  to  school  alone,  although  this  necessitated 
changing  of  cars.  The  fact  that  all  the  children  took 
part  in  setting  the  table,  serving  the  food  and  clearing 
up  after  lunch  seemed  to  stimulate  her  interest  in 
housework,  and  she  was  very  proud  to  do  work  at  home 
which  had  formerly  possessed  little  attraction  for  her. 
She  has  also  shown  other  signs  of  growing  up.  She  is 
not  so  noisy  and  hoydenish,  but  at  the  same  time 
she  is  beginning  to  complain  that  she  is  not  allowed 
to  go  with  boys,  saying  that  she  is  old  enough  now, 


248  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

eleven  years,  to  be  given  more  freedom.    At  present 
she  is  back  at  the  regular  public  school. 

8.  Morgan  C.  Certain  vitally  important  facts  were 
discovered  about  Morgan.  The  home  was  visited 
several  times  and  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  called.  During 
these  visits  we  learned  for  the  first  time  that  Morgan 
had  been  subject  to  convulsions  on  different  occasions 
and  that  the  mother's  family  had  been  decidedly  neuro- 
tic for  several  generations.  The  maternal  grandmother 
had  on  five  different  occasions  been  practically  insane, 
although  she  had  never  been  sent  to  a  hospital.  He 
was  taken  to  Dr.  Ludlum  for  a  general  neurological 
examination.  At  the  time  the  examination  was  made  it 
was  not  known  that  the  convulsions  had  been  period- 
ical, nor  that  they  had,  on  one  occasion  at  least,  been 
succeeded  by  paralysis.  Dr.  Ludlum,  therefore,  did  not 
diagnose  the  case  as  epileptic.  He  found  a  condition  of 
marked  malnutrition  and  said  that  the  boy  should  be 
given  a  Wassermann  blood  test,  which  proved  to  be 
negative.  By  the  advice  of  Dr.  Ludlum  he  was  sent 
at  the  close  of  school  to  the  Woman's  Hospital  for  a 
thorough  examination  as  to  his  nutrition.  Three  days 
of  observation  failed  to  show  any  new  points.  A 
surgeon  advised  the  retaking  of  the  Wassermann  test 
at  some  future  date.  Meantime  it  was  discovered  that 
the  convulsions  had  been  periodic,  occurring  once  a 
year  at  least,  and  that  they  were  on  at  least  one  occa- 


SOCIAL  SERVICE  DEPARTMENT.       249 

sion  followed  by    paralysis,   which  reawakened  the 
suspicion  of  epilepsy. 

In  the  fall,  owing  to  the  personal  interest  of  Miss 
Farrell,  Morgan  was  admitted  to  a  private  special 
school  in  New  York.  Up  to  date  he  has  not  had  any 
convulsions.  He  is  responding  satisfactorily  to  the 
discipline  and  teaching,  and  we  are  watching  the  experi- 
ment with  the  greatest  interest. 

9.  Flora  C.  This  child,  a  very  pretty  and  attractive 
young  girl  of  thirteen,  presents  socially  one  of  the 
most  difficult  problems  that  we  meet.  She  is  of  very 
low  grade  mentally  and  yet,  because  of  her  real  physical 
charm,  this  is  not  obvious.  Unless  she  is  removed  from 
her  present  environment  she  is  likely  to  bear  feeble- 
minded children,  and  this  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  her 
home  is  a  good  one  and  her  mother  guards  her 
constantly. 

One  of  the  social  workers,  being  especially  interested 
in  Flora,  visited  the  home  on  five  different  occasions. 
The  acquaintance  thus  developed  into  a  fairly  intimate 
one  and  it  was  possible  to  give  certain  helpful  sugges- 
tions as  to  Flora's  care.  The  mother  had  been  formerly 
anxious  for  her  to  improve  academically  and  could 
not  see  the  uselessness  of  purely  mental  training, 
nor  the  advantage  of  developing  her  ability  in  manual 
and  household  work,  and  when  the  class  began  she 
was  skeptical  of  the  value  of  basket  making  and  wood 


250  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

work.  She  now  appears  reconciled  to  the  fact  that 
Flora,  who  at  thirteen  is  doing  first  grade  work,  will 
never  shine  as  a  scholar,  especially  when  she  recognized 
that  the  child  was  more  interested  in  her  hand  work 
than  she  had  ever  been  in  reading  and  writing.  Flora 
is  continuing  in  the  same  special  class  this  fall  and  is 
reported  as  generally  improved,  showing  more  con- 
centration and  interest  than  before.  Owing  to  the 
efforts  of  the  social  workers  Flora  is  being  given  special 
orthopedic  exercises  by  her  mother,  acting  under  the 
instruction  of  a  physician. 

When  it  seems  advisable,  a  further  attempt  will 
be  made  to  convince  the  parents  that  the  child 
should  be  placed  under  custodial  care  for  the  rest  of 
her  life. 

10.  Agnes  D.  No  special  social  work  was  done 
during  the  six  weeks  in  the  case  of  Agnes,  who  as 
before,  was  in  the  home  of  one  of  the  Clinic's  care- 
takers. The  housemother  reported  from  week  to  week 
that  Agnes  was  improving,  especially  in  the  matter 
of  attention,  and  that  she  seemed  less  panic-stricken 
under  observation.  She  also  improved  in  ability  to  do 
housework.  According  to  the  wish  of  the  people  who 
are  financially  responsible  for  her,  she  is  still  at  the 
same  home  and  is  in  the  grade  2B  of  a  regular  public 
school.  The  school  reports,  while  variable,  are 
favorable. 


SOCIAL  SERVICE  DEPARTMENT.       251 

11.  Russell  F.    Mrs.  F.  brought  and  called  for  Russell 
each  day,  which  gave  us  a  good  opportunity  to  get 
acquainted  with  her  and  offer  help  and  advice.    After 
repeated  efforts,  she  seemed  to  be  somewhat  impressed 
with  the  fact  that  her  boy  was  not  like  other  children. 
She  was  assured  and  appeared  to  understand  that, 
although  Russell  improved  physically  and  mentally 
in  some  respects,  this  did  not  mean  that  he  could 
ever  be  made  normal;    consequently,  it  may  be  pos- 
sible to  persuade  her  to  enter  him  in  a  school  for  the 
feebleminded.     So  far  nothing  has  been  done,  as  the 
grandparents,  aunts,  and  uncles  are  determined  not  to 
let  the  child  go  away  from  them,  and  the  mother  cannot 
be  relied  upon  to  hold  out  against  the  rest  of  the  family. 

12.  Ernest  H.     Ernest's  home  was  visited  several 
times,  but  there  was  no  need  for  special  social  work 
save  in  the  matter  of  diet.     The  mother  has  strong 
leanings  to  vegetarianism  and  seem  inclined  to  cut  down 
the  children's  food  below  a  reasonable  standard  in 
her  laudable  attempt  to  avoid  overfeeding.     Some  of 
the  boy's  general  debility  for  which  he  was  brought  to 
us  may  have  been  due  to  this  fact.    He  returned  to 
the  public  school  (grade  4B)  in  the  fall  and  has  shown 
remarkable  improvement  in  his  work.     The  principal 
thinks  it  is  largely  the  result  of  the  special  class  experi- 
ence and  the  combination  it  offered  of  physical  strength- 
ening and  educational  stimulus. 


252  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

13.  Samuel  H.    Samuel's  home  was  visited  several 
times  before  certain  facts  about  the  family  history 
and  the  child's  personal  history  came  to  light.    It  was 
found  that  in  spite  of  a  devoted  mother  he  was  not 
getting  enough  sleep  and  that  his  feeding  was  very 
irregular, — also  that  he  had  been  under  treatment  by 
a  private  physician  who  had  advised  cutting  out  meat 
from  his  diet.    This  suggested  the  possibility  of  some 
kidney  trouble,  and  the  clue  thus  given  was  followed  up. 
Through  the  co-operation  of  the  Clinic  and  the  Young 
Women's  Union,  he  was  entered  in  a  hospital  for  obser- 
vation and  a  thorough  examination  of  his  kidneys, 
heart   and  general   nutrition.     While  there   for  two 
weeks,  he  was  treated  for  some  slight  kidney  trouble. 
He  was  afterward  sent  to  the  country  for  two  weeks. 
On  his  return,  the  treatment  begun  for  his  kidneys  was 
continued  at  a  hospital  nearer  his  home  and  he  under- 
went a  slight  operation.    Since  this  time  he  has  shown 
a  marked  improvement   in   general   health   and    dis- 
position, with  no   recurrence  of  his  old  sulky  moods. 
He  will  be  under  continued  observation  for  an  indefinite 
period. 

14.  Abraham  L.    One  of  the  social  workers,  being  a 
graduate  dietitian  and  naturally  most  interested  in 
cases  of  underfeeding,  visited  Abraham's  home  several 
times,  and  was  able  to  effect  a  decided  change  in  his 
food  habits.    Her  main  efforts  were  directed  to  elimi- 


SOCIAL  SERVICE  DEPARTMENT.      253 

nating  tea  and  coffee  and  substituting  milk  and  cocoa. 
Then  too,  she  urged  upon  his  mother  the  necessity 
of  making  him  eat,  even  when  he  was  not  very  hungry, 
— the  child  being  actually  nearly  starved  because  of 
too  little  food,  and  this  in  a  home  where  there  was  no 
extreme  poverty.  At  the  school  lunch  he  was  watched 
and  urged  to  eat,  and  being  very  docile,  obeyed.  He 
was  also  " starved"  for  sleep,  and  this  he  partially  made 
up  by  long  unbroken  naps  at  school.  The  result  was 
quite  remarkable.  His  mother  reported  after  a  few 
weeks  that  he  ate  and  slept  better  than  ever  before. 
The  most  remarkable  change  was  found  in  the  blood, 
which  by  test  showed  40  per  cent  hemoglobin  in  the 
beginning  and  95  per  cent  at  the  close  of  the  session. 
That  his  general  vitality  was  greatly  improved  was 
shown  partly  by  the  better  chest  and  grip  measure- 
ments, but  even  more  by  the  fact  that  he  learned  to 
smile  and  laugh,  which  we  had  never  seen  him  do 
before.  He  also  learned  to  swim  and  dive, — no  small 
attainment  in  six  weeks. 

In  the  fall  Abraham  was  brought  to  the  Clinic  for 
re-examination.  At  this  time  he  responded  very 
much  better  than  he  had  on  his  first  examination. 
Formerly  he  had  hardly  responded  to  any  questions. 
Part  of  this  difficulty,  it  was  discovered,  was  due  to 
the  fact  that  he  did  not  understand  English,  as  he 
responded  well  enough  when  a  member  of  the  family 


254  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

spoke  to  him  in  Yiddish.  The  condition  seemed  to  be 
due,  partially  at  least,  to  some  psychical  condition 
which  has  not  as  yet  been  determined.  An  obscure 
form  of  aphasia  was  suggested,  but  to  determine  this 
will  require  considerable  observation. 

The  boy  and  his  brother  were  submitted  to  a  blood 
test  in  order  to  find  out  if  there  was  some  underly- 
ing constitutional  difficulty.  The  blood  test  was 
negative. 

Abraham  was  returned  to  his  former  school  and  the 
reports  are  so  far  uniformly  favorable.  The  following 
statement  was  submitted  by  his  teacher:  "The  im- 
provement shown  by  A.  L.  is  quite  marked.  He 
is  decidedly  more  awake  than  he  was  last  term  and  his 
memory  is  better  though  not  up  to  the  normal  child. 
To  my  mind,  Abraham  will  learn  to  read,  but  it  may 
take  ten  or  fifteen  months  to  do  five  months'  work." 
It  was  suggested  that  perhaps  the  boy  might  progress 
faster  in  a  special  class  for  backward  children,  where 
the  numbers  would  be  fewer  than  in  a  crowded  first 
grade,  and  more  individual  attention  could  be  given. 
This  did  not  prove  feasible,  however,  because  the 
nearest  school  having  a  special  class  was  a  consider- 
able distance  from  his  home  and  he  evidently  could 
not  be  allowed  to  go  to  school  alone.  In  case  he  does 
not  make  the  hoped  for  progress  he  may  be  transferred 
to  a  special  class  at  the  end  of  three  or  four  months. 


SOCIAL  SERVICE  DEPARTMENT.      255 

At  this  time  his  older  brother  enters  the  grammar 
school  and  can  accompany  Abraham  to  the  other 
school. 

16.  Robert  S.    One  of  the  students  in  the  class  for 
social  research,  the  principal  of  a  combined  school  in 
a  Pennsylvania  town,  became  especially  interested  in 
Robert  and  visited  the  boy  in  his  home  several  times, 
going  in  the  evening  to  see  the  father.    The  father's 
mother  was  much  pleased  at  the  visit,  and  said  it  was 
the  very  first  time  that  anyone  outside  the  family  had 
been  sufficiently  interested  in  Robert  to  call  to  see 
him.     While  Robert  is  a  generally  healthy  lad,  one 
habit  was  discovered  which  needed  special  correction. 
The  mother  said  he  spent  a  great  deal  of  his  time 
playing  with  cigarette  pictures.    These  pictures  were  of 
the  usual  type,  gaudy,  and  semi-obscene  pictures  of 
girls  in  tights,  and  so  on.    As  Robert  is  only  eleven 
years  old,  this  is  significant  as  showing  precocious 
development.    He  would  sit  on  the  floor  in  the  corner 
of  the  room  brooding  over  his  pictures,  and  although 
this  does  not  seem  to  hurt  him  at  present,  it  is  not 
wholesome.     He  refuses,  however,  to  give  the  cards 
up,  and  when  asked  to  do  so  becomes  very  sullen 
and  stubborn.     The  parents  have  been  advised  to 
give  him  as  much  manual  work  as  possible  and  en- 
courage his  naturally  strong  interest  in  sports. 
When  Robert  returned  to  the  speech  class  in  the  fall 


256  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

he  was  so  much  improved  that  the  examining  psychol- 
ogist dismissed  him  from  the  class,  and  sent  a  message  to 
the  school  teacher  that  his  defect  in  speech  was  not 
fundamental  and  with  perseverance  might  be  entirely 
eliminated. 

17.  George  S.  George  is  a  striking  example  of  the 
change  that  may  be  wrought  even  in  a  short  time  by  a 
more  favorable  social  environment.  As  soon  as  he  was 
removed  from  his  own  home  he  showed  improve- 
ment. In  every  way  his  nsw  environment  was  a 
contrast  to  the  old.  On  the  physical  side  he  was  assured 
proper  food  in  sufficient  quantities  and  a  quiet  place  to 
sleep,  but  what  was  more  important,  the  new  environ- 
ment was  mentally  wholesome.  Instead  of  being  nagged 
and  scolded  continually  or  being  the  center  of  attrac- 
tion, amusement  and  bullying  for  a  large  number  of 
children,  he  was  judiciously  let  alone.  Instead  of  hav- 
ing outbreaks  of  temper  several  days  a  week,  he  had 
none  at  all  during  his  stay.  His  mother  reported  that 
he  had  never  obeyed,  and  although  this  came  hard 
at  times,  he  obeyed  quite  well  and  cheerfully.  He 
made  one  or  two  attempts  to  get  the  kind  of  interest 
he  was  accustomed  to,  by  running  away  and  refusing, 
for  example,  to  come  and  be  photographed.  He  told 
Mrs.  Bryant  that  he  was  simply  trying  to  make  her  or 
the  teachers  run  after  him.  He  said  he  had  always 
been  able  to  get  his  big  sister  to  run  after  him.  After 


SOCIAL  SERVICE  DEPARTMENT.       257 

a  few  unsuccessful  attempts  he  stopped  this  and  gave 
no  further  trouble.  Toward  the  end  of  the  session 
his  father  requested  that  he  be  allowed  to  go  home  over 
Sunday  to  attend  an  aviation  meet  and  go  on  a  picnic. 
This  was  refused,  as  we  felt  that  the  excitement  and 
lapse  from  discipline  would  be  too  much  for  him. 
George  had  learned  of  the  invitation  and  had  boasted 
of  how  he  was  going  to  carry  on  if  he  was  not  allowed 
to  go.  When  the  time  came,  however,  he  made  no 
trouble  whatever,  although  he  was  keenly  disappointed. 

His  caretaker  reported  that  he  gave  her  absolutely 
no  trouble;  on  the  contrary,  he  soon  made  himself  very 
useful  about  the  house  running  errands.  We  had  been 
afraid  he  might  exploit  Oswald,  who  was  living  in  the 
same  house,  but  he  showed  no  tendency  to  do  this. 
On  the  contrary,  he  took  very  good  care  of  this  boy, 
who  was  considerably  weaker,  helped  him  to  dress, 
walked  slowly  with  him  and  held  his  hand  at  the 
crossings  on  the  road  to  school. 

Physically  he  made  almost  as  marked  an  improve- 
ment. He  was  9  centimeters  above  normal  height  for 
his  age  and  nearly  6  kilograms  subnormal  in  weight  for 
his  height.  In  five  weeks  he  gained  2  kilograms,  his 
chest  expansion  increased  and  the  haemoglobin  per- 
centage rose  from  65  to  100  per  cent.  His  grip  showed 
a  falling  off.  He  had  been  normal  in  the  beginning,  but 
the  test  showed  a  decided  loss.  However,  at  the 


258  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

time  the  second  test  was  taken,  he  said  he  felt  very 
tired  and  that  he  knew  he  was  not  doing  well,  and  in 
fact,  did  not  try  very  hard. 

The  six  weeks  showed  what  could  be  done  with 
George  if  he  were  placed  permanently  in  a  favorable 
environment.  Of  course,  it  did  not  work  fundamental 
changes,  and  a  week  of  his  old  home  environment,  which 
could  not  be  avoided  before  getting  him  into  the 
country,  went  far  towards  putting  him  back  where  he 
was  in  the  beginning.  However,  before  all  the  good 
effects  had  worn  off,  he  was  placed  in  the  Children's 
Village  at  Meadowbrook,  a  sort  of  Junior  Republic  on 
a  small  scale.  Here  he  sleeps  out  of  doors,  has  all  he 
needs  to  eat,  and  is  under  constant  supervision  and 
kindly  discipline.  In  the  school  there  he  is  being 
studied  as  a  super-normal  child  and  allowed  to  pro- 
gress as  fast  as  possible  without  pushing.  In  two 
months  he  has  made  such  progress  that  his  teacher 
says  he  will  have  completed  three  grades  by  Easter, 
instead  of  the  usual  one  grade. 

He  has  gained  eleven  pounds  and  begun  to  look  and 
act  like  a  different  child.  So  far, — over  four  months, — 
he  has  given  no  trouble,  either  to  his  housemother  or 
the  teachers.  His  main  difficulty  is  in  playing  with 
the  other  children.  It  comes  hard  for  him  when  teased 
to  keep  his  temper,  but  he  is  mastering  himself  very 
well  and  has  had  no  serious  outbreaks. 


SOCIAL  SERVICE  DEPARTMENT.       259 

18.  Oswald  Z.  Oswald  is  interesting,  because  he 
is  the  only  child  in  the  class  who  did  not  improve 
during  the  six  weeks.  The  nutrition  test  showed  that 
he  lost  one  kilo  in  weight,  although  he  was  over  four 
kilos  subnormal  to  begin  with.  His  grip  and  chest 
expansions  were  more  feeble  than  in  the  beginning. 
He  gained  in  the  single  respect  of  the  haemoglobin  test; 
in  the  beginning  it  was  90  per  cent  and  at  the  end  100 
per  cent.  The  caretaker  reported  that  he  seemed  to 
be  more  fatigued  each  day,  and  at  school  he  was  allowed 
to  sleep  as  long  as  he  wished. 

This  general  loss  is  very  significant,  because  he  was 
under  the  care  of  the  Clinic  for  the  whole  twenty-four 
hours.  He  was  receiving  enough  food,  and  was  sleep- 
ing under  wholesome  conditions.  He  was  also  being 
kept  very  quiet  out  of  school,  but  the  excitement 
and  strain  of  school  work  were  evidently  too  much  for 
him,  and  this  experience  proved  that  he  was  a  boy  who 
should  not  be  in  the  special  class.  This  was  the  first 
schooling  he  had  ever  received,  and  the  first  chance 
we  had  to  see  how  he  would  react  to  a  relatively  nor- 
mal situation.  He  was  not  able  to  stand  the  excitement, 
even  with  the  best  physical  care  and  constant  special 
allowance,  such  as  being  left  asleep  for  an  hour  or  more 
after  the  others  had  been  aroused.  He  began  to  improve 
after  the  school  stopped  and  is  now  looking  very  well 
indeed. 


260  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

Aside  from  the  general  low  physical  condition  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  boy  is  retarded  because 
he  never  learned  to  speak.  When  he  first  came 
to  the  Clinic  he  was  unable  to  make  any  of  the  arti- 
ulate  sounds  of  language.  Within  nine  or  ten  months 
he  learned  with  no  formal  and  very  little  informal 
teaching,  to  make  a  great  many  sounds  and  to  make 
himself  partially  understood  by  means  of  speech. 
For  some  time  this  boy  had  been  a  difficult  case  from 
the  social  point  of  view,  because  there  was  no  provision 
for  the  training  of  children  like  him.  The  boy  not  being 
technically  feebleminded  could  not  be  admitted  to  an 
institution  for  the  feebleminded.  On  the  other  hand, 
not  being  deaf,  he  was  not  eligible  for  the  ordinary 
institutions  for  the  deaf.  He  is  one  of  a  class  rela- 
tively small,  but  absolutely  large,  known  as  hearing 
mutes,  which  is  receiving  increasing  attention  by  edu- 
cational authorities.  The  immediate  outlook  seemed 
pretty  hopeless  until,  in  reading  over  the  report  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Oral  School  for  the  Deaf,  at  Scranton.  Pa., 
we  noted  that  among  the  children  admitted  during  the 
past  year  five  were  hearing  mutes.  Four  of  these 
had  been  discharged  because  it  was  found  they  were 
feebleminded,  but  one  had  been  retained.  This  led 
us  to  hope  that  perhaps  Oswald  might  be  admitted 
on  a  similar  basis,  and  after  a  lengthy  correspondence 
with  the  head  worker  he  was  accepted  on  trial.  After 


SOCIAL  SERVICE  DEPARTMENT.       261 

a  month  they  have  agreed  to  keep  him  as  long  as  neces- 
sary. He  is  being  given  the  same  throat  and  vocal 
gymnastics  that  the  deaf  children  are  taught,  to  get  the 
sounds  by  the  method  of  tongue  placing  and  special 
breathing  exercises,  rather  than  by  the  method  of  imita- 
tion ,  which  seemed  to  produce  very  slow  results.  Letters 
and  reports  are  all  favorable  and  the  teachers  seem 
confident  of  success  with  him.  As  it  is  the  first  case 
of  the  kind  for  which  we  have  been  able  to  secure  definite 
treatment,  it  will  be  followed  with  much  interest. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

CLINICAL   PSYCHOLOGY  AND   THE   PROFESSIONAL 

TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS    (AND   OTHERS 

INTERESTED  IN  CHILD  WELFARE). 

BY  LIGHTNER  WITMER. 

The  organization  of  public  school  classes  for  back- 
ward and  defective  children  is  the  result  of  several 
important  influences  which  have  already  greatly  modi- 
fied and  which  may  be  expected  still  more  to  modify 
educational  procedure.  In  the  first  place,  these  classes 
reflect  the  growth  of  a  new  professional  spirit  among 
public  school  administrators, — a  more  scientific  attitude 
toward  the  problem  of  universal  education,  and  a 
greater  determination  to  promote  individual  and  school 
efficiency.  Ungraded  and  special  classes  are  the  direct 
consequence  on  the  one  hand  of  the  enforcement  of 
compulsory  education,  and  on  the  other  of  a  more 
definite  conception  of  the  real  object  of  the  public 
schools,  i.  e.  the  adequate  preparation  of  all  the 
children  of  our  American  communities  for  a  life  of  social 
and  economic  usefulness.  In  great  measure,  however, 
the  recognition  of  the  existence  and  needs  of  these 
children  has  followed  upon  the  installation  of  adequate 
medical  inspection,  first  for  the  prevention  of  the  spread 

(262) 


CLINICAL  PSYCHOLOGY.  263 

of  contagious  and  infectious  diseases  and  then  for  the 
removal  of  all  physical  defects  or  handicaps  in  the 
way  of  school  progress.  Another  potent  factor  has 
been  the  growing  social  consciousness  which  the  public 
schools  are  manifesting  in  common  with  other  agencies 
who  work  for  social  betterment  in  general  and  for  child 
welfare  in  particular.  And  lastly,  but  by  no  means 
of  least  importance,  there  is  the  stimulus  which  modern 
psychology  during  the  twenty-five  years  of  its  develop- 
ment in  this  country  has  given  to  the  recognition  of 
individual  needs  and  capabilities  in  order  that  the 
purposes  of  general  education  may  be  successfully 
carried  forward. 

The  growing  movement  for  the  training  of  backward 
and  defective  children  is  momentarily  the  point  within 
the  public  school  system  at  which  these  various 
influences  are  most  intensely  focalized.  But  the  intro- 
duction of  the  special  class  into  public  school  work 
has  carried  with  it  certain  consequences,  some  of  them 
unexpected,  but  all  of  them  resulting  in  the  growth  of 
a  new  point  of  view.  The  solution  of  the  problem  of 
educating  backward  children  has  of  necessity  led 
school  administrators  and  teachers  far  afield  from  the 
merely  pedagogical  problem  of  teaching  the  three 
R/s.  It  has  led  to  an  examination  of  the  causes  of 
backwardness,  which  have  been  found  to  include  late 
entrance  to  school,  absence,  foreign  parentage,  inade- 


264  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

quate  care,  insufficient  food  and  physical  defects,  as 
well  as  congenital  mental  inferiority.  It  has  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  problem  minds  trained  in  economics, 
sociology,  medicine,  psychology  and  education.  It 
has  shown  the  necessity  for  the  co-operation  of  the 
schools  with  university  departments  of  research  and 
instruction  on  the  one  hand,  and  with  social  and 
charitable  organizations  on  the  other.  The  pedagogical 
treatment  of  the  problem  demands  (first  of  all)  diagnosis 
and  classification,  and  the  necessity  for  classification 
has  shown  the  necessity  for  the  study  of  individuals. 
Thus  there  is  being  introduced  into  the  schools  a  clinical, 
i.  e.  an  individual  psychology.  Two  classes  of  public 
school  authorities  require  to-day  an  intimate  knowledge 
of  this  modern  type  of  psychology.  These  are  (1) 
administrative  officers,  including  school  principals, 
and  (2)  all  teachers  who  have  to  do  with  special  or 
ungraded  classes  of  children,  whether  these  be  mentally 
defective,  speak  only  a  foreign  language,  or  possess 
exceptional  ability. 

The  problem  of  the  backward  child  is  the  problem 
of  individual  mental  development,  and  no  successful 
solution  of  this  problem  is  possible  unless  those  who 
are  attempting  it  are  animated  by  the  spirit  and 
penetrated  by  the  facts  of  an  individual  psychology. 
Teachers  for  classes  of  exceptional  children  must  there- 
fore be  made  acquainted  not  only  with  special  methods 


§  I  i  °  I 

'  II! 


£          no 


1MB 

in  2 


1111 


XL.  THE   RECORDING   INSTRUMENT. 

THE    SUBJECT    PLACES    HIS  HAND  IN  THE  PLETHTSMOGRAPH;  BY  MEANS  OF  AIR 

ANOTHER  ROOM  TRACES  A  PULSE  CURVE  AND  SHOWS  CHANGES  IN  THE  VOLUME 
THE  'EMOTIONS  IN  THE  SECOND  TEARS  LABORATORY  WORK  OF  THE  SYSTEMATIC 


XLI.    THE    PLETHYSMOGRAPH. 

CONDUCTION  THROUGH  RUBBER  TUBING,  THE  RECORDING  INSTRUMENT  IN 
OF  BLOOD  IN  THE  HAND  AND  FOREARM,  STUDENT  APPARATUS  USED  TO  STUDY 
COURSE. 


51 


CLINICAL  PSYCHOLOGY.  265 

of  education,  but  also  with  the  physical  and  mental 
constitution  of  the  children  whom  they  are  called  upon 
to  develop.  They  are  not  teachers  in  the  ordinary 
sense:  they  are  trainers,  mental  developers,  and  they 
must  be  quick  to  recognize  the  physical  and  mental 
nature  of  the  organisms  they  would  stimulate  to 
higher  activities.  They  must  know  not  only  the 
mental  and  physical  defects  of  these  children,  but  their 
mental  and  physical  assets  as  well. 

The  backward  child  is  already  beginning  to  repay 
society  and  the  schools  for  the  lavish  expenditure  of 
time  and  effort  upon  his  training.  The  demand  grows 
more  insistent  for  the  recognition  of  the  individual 
rights  and  needs  of  every  child,  and  before  long  the 
viewpoint  of  clinical  psychology  from  which  we  regard 
the  training  of  the  backward  child  will  be  the  accepted 
viewpoint  from  which  to  regard  the  training  of  all 
children.  This  point  of  view,  this  recognition  of  the 
problem  of  education  as  being  primarily  the  mental, 
moral  and  physical  development  of  an  individual,  is 
one  which  many  educators  have  doubtless  expressed 
from  time  to  time,  but  it  has  not  as  yet  won  general 
acceptance,  and  if  one  examines  common  practice  quite 
a  contrary  standard  of  action  will  often  be  found. 
Thus  a  district  superintendent  of  one  of  our  large  cities, 
on  the  recommendation  of  a  principal,  brought  pressure 
to  bear  upon  a  grade  teacher  to  cease  visiting  the  homes 


266  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

of  parents  and  taking  the  children  in  her  class  on 
excursions  to  the  park  and  elsewhere  outside  of  school 
hours,  the  statement  being  that  she  was  there  to  teach 
these  children  and  not  to  cultivate  extraneous  social 
relations  with  them. 

Ordinary  children  make  sufficient  progress  even 
when  treated  in  the  undifferentiated  mass  in  which 
they  happen  to  be.  The  grade  teacher  perhaps  may 
have  a  large  measure  of  success  without  concerning 
herself  about  the  mental  and  physical  personality  of  her 
children.  The  day  by  day  development  of  a  backward 
child,  however,  is  always  a  critical  and  momentous 
issue.  The  teacher  must  know  each  child  as  an 
individual.  She  must  consult  physicians  in  order 
that  they  may  assist  in  her  work  through  the  medical 
treatment  of  the  physical  causes  of  retardation.  She 
must  either  visit  the  homes  of  her  children  or  she 
must  have  a  social  visitor  who  will  make  such  visits 
and  report  to  her.  The  employment  of  discipline,  to 
take  only  one  example,  must  meet  the  individual's 
needs.  Whether  severe  or  lax  discipline  is  called 
for  will  depend  upon  the  kind  of  treatment  to  which 
the  child  is  subjected  at  home.  If  the  claim  is  made 
by  teachers  of  special  classes  that  they  have  not  the 
time  to  visit  in  the  homes,  this  simply  means  that  they 
have  not  the  time  to  do  their  work  properly.  The 
teacher,  however,  is  not  a  social  visitor  primarily.  She 


CLINICAL  PSYCHOLOGY.  267 

is  primarily  a  psychologist  working  in  a  practical  field, 
applying  psychological  principles  day  by  day  to  the 
mental  development  of  each  child.  Clinical  psychology 
combines  information  gathered  from  many  different 
scientific  sources,  and  applies  this  information  to 
the  understanding  and  treatment  of  each  child's 
individual  needs. 

Like  all  new  problems,  the  problem  of  the  exceptional 
child  finds  those  who  are  called  upon  to  solve  it 
insufficiently  trained  for  the  purpose.  Hundreds  of 
earnest  teachers  are  now  seeking  to  obtain  the  proper 
equipment  and  are  finding  those  to  whom  they  turn 
for  professional  training  as  ill  equipped  as  them- 
selves to  give  real  enlightenment  on  the  necessary 
psychological  and  educational  problems.  Text-books 
of  psychology  are  wholly  inadequate.  They  are 
usually  at  least  ten  years  out  of  date  at  the  time  they 
are  written,  and  they  are  apt  to  contain  more  matters 
of  speculative  interest  than  of  practical  value.  The 
departments  of  psychology  in  most  of  our  institu- 
tions of  learning  have  been  caught  unprepared  to 
meet  the  demand  of  teachers  for  a  practical  psy- 
chology. 

Courses  in  psychology  for  those  interested  in  excep- 
tional children  cannot  be  satisfactorily  planned  and 
operated  without  much  preliminary  experimentation 
and  trial.  A  teacher  of  backward  children  can  acquire 


268  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

a  sufficient  knowledge  concerning  backward  children 
only  by  coming  in  actual  contact  with  them.  A 
department  of  psychology  cannot  teach  psychology 
to  teachers  of  backward  children  without  the  experience 
of  prolonged  investigation  with  these  children.  The 
value  of  our  summer  class  for  backward  children 
resides  partly  hi  the  opportunity  afforded  teachers  of 
backward  children  to  observe  these  children  in  actual 
school  room  practice,  and  partly  in  the  opportunity 
afforded  the  teaching  faculty  to  investigate  these  chil- 
dren at  first  hand.  The  special  class  for  backward 
children  conducted  by  the  Psychological  Laboratory 
and  Clinic  is  itself  a  psychological  laboratory;  a 
demonstration  laboratory,  inasmuch  as  types  of  back- 
ward children  are  presented  to  the  observation  of 
summer  school  students,  and  a  research  laboratory, 
in  that  the  children  of  the  class  are  continuously  under 
scientific  observation.  A  special  class  is  therefore  a 
necessity,  both  for  the  student  and  for  the  department 
of  psychology.  For  many  years  our  courses  in  psy- 
chology have  been  modified,  changing  somewhat  in 
purpose,  but  very  much  in  content  so  as  to  adapt 
them  more  nearly  to  give  a  practically  useful 
psychology  to  teachers  and  other  students  of  child 
welfare. 

Our  summer  school  courses  in  psychology  have  always 
had  the  purpose  of  putting  before  the  teachers  of  the 


CLINICAL  PSYCHOLOGY.  269 

country  the  best  which  our  department  had  to  offer 
in  the  way  of  professional  equipment.  From  year  to 
year  new  courses  have  been  added.  The  special  class 
of  1911  differed  from  other  special  classes  conducted 
by  the  Department  of  Psychology  in  that  instruction 
in  methods  of  teaching  was  added  to  instruction  in 
clinical  psychology.  With  the  assistance  of  Miss 
Farrell,  the  class  was  more  than  a  demonstration  and 
experimental  laboratory.  It  was  an  actual  public 
school  class  for  backward  children,  conducted  by  Miss 
Farrell  and  her  assistants  as  such  classes  are  conducted 
under  her  supervision  in  the  public  schools  of  New 
York  City  and  as  such  classes  may  be  conducted  else- 
where by  competent  teachers  who  receive  sufficient 
encouragement  and  support  from  the  school  authorities. 
Students  attending  the  summer  school,  therefore,  had 
the  unusual  opportunity  to  observe  a  well-conducted 
public  school  class,  and  through  discussions  with  Miss 
Farrell  to  gain  an  insight  into  the  psychological 
principles  which  they  saw  in  daily  operation.  In 
addition,  the  children  in  the  class  furnished  material 
for  definite  instruction  in  psychology,  and  the  class 
itself  formed  part  of  a  progressive  experiment  which 
the  department  is  conducting  for  the  purpose  of 
advancing  our  knowledge  of  an  applied  clinical 
psychology. 

What  a  student  will  get  from  observing  the  work 


270  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

of  even  the  most  expert  teachers  will  depend  very 
largely  upon  what  the  student  brings  to  the  task 
of  observation.  There  is  a  body  of  very  practical 
knowledge  concerning  the  mental  and  physical  consti- 
tution of  the  children  which  the  teacher  must  not 
fail  to  possess.  This  body  of  knowledge  is  compressed 
into  a  course  entitled  Clinical  Psychology,  dealing  with 
the  types  of  children  who  are  apt  to  be  found  in  special 
classes  in  the  public  schools.  The  life  of  the  child  out 
of  school  is  as  important  as  the  life  of  the  child  in  the 
class  room.  The  teacher  who  observes  and  knows 
about  the  school  life  of  the  child  will  know  only  a 
part  of  what  will  be  of  service  in  stimulating  mental 
development.  There  is  a  body  of  knowledge  dealing 
with  the  out-of-school  life  of  the  child,  with  the  child's 
father  and  mother,  the  food  that  he  eats,  the  room 
in  which  he  sleeps,  his  play,  his  life  on  the  street, 
which  is  no  less  important  to  the  teacher  than  a 
knowledge  of  special  methods  of  instruction.  A  course 
in  social  psychology,  developed  from  practical  social 
work  in  connection  with  a  psychological  clinic  or  in 
connection  with  a  special  class,  is  of  prime  necessity 
to  the  teacher  for  rounding  out  her  information. 
I  consider  it  of  no  small  importance  that  teachers 
should  have  the  opportunity  to  engage  in  home  visit- 
ing or  social  work,  and  that  they  should  be  instructed 
on  the  many  social  aspects  of  the  educational  problem. 


CLINICAL  PSYCHOLOGY.  271 

And  here  we  are  met  by  the  fundamental  problem 
of  professional  training.  If  the  teacher  is  to  get 
the  greatest  advantage  from  observing  a  well-taught 
group  of  backward  children,  or  from  the  principles 
and  facts  of  a  clinical  psychology,  or  from  a  course 
on  the  social  aspects  of  school  work,  the  teacher  needs 
a  thorough  grounding  in  the  principles  of  psychology. 
It  must  be  a  worth-while  psychology  covering  the 
modern  field  of  psychology  not  in  the  text-book  fashion, 
but  assisted  by  first-hand  laboratory  work  on  the 
part  of  the  student.  The  prime  object  of  a  thorough- 
going course  in  psychology  for  teachers  is  to  train 
them  to  become  psychologists  and  not  to  fill  their  minds 
with  technical  verbiage.  All  this  requires  time,  and 
I  do  not  believe  that  this  kind  of  foundation  in 
psychology  can  be  given  in  less  than  a  two-year  course. 
As  the  result  of  our  experience  at  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  we  have  organized  and  give  in  connection 
with  the  summer  school  courses  a  two-year  systematic 
course  in  psychology  which  we  hope  will  ground  the 
student  in  the  essential  facts  and  principles  and  at  the 
same  time  teach  him  how  to  observe  and  think  cor- 
rectly about  the  mental  processes  of  others.  The 
systematic  course  occupies  three  hours  weekly  for  two 
academic  years  or  three  hours  daily  for  two  summer 
sessions,  one  hour  each  week  or  day  respectively  being 
devoted  to  a  lecture  and  two  hours  to  laboratory 
work.* 


BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

Every  student  is  compelled  to  face  this  dilemma 
of  professional  training, — either  a  long  course  in 
general  psychology  followed  by  courses  in  practical 
work,  which  is,  after  all,  the  burning  interest,  or  else 
to  attack  the  practical  work  first  on  an  insufficient 
foundation.  Two  or  three  years,  that  is,  attendance 
at  the  summer  courses  for  two  or  three  summers, 
would  be  necessary  to  obtain  a  well-rounded  course 
of  preparation  in  the  kind  of  individual  psychology 
required  for  teaching  backward  children.  Teachers 
who  can  afford  to  give  this  amount  of  time  must  be 


*  Fifteen  courses  in  psychology  were  offered  at  the  summer  school  of  1911, 
each  occupying  at  least  one  hour  a  day  for  the  six  weeks  of  the  session. 
Practical  Courses. 

1.  Educational  psychology. 

2.  Clinical  psychology. 

3.  Abnormal  psychology. 

4a.  Anatomy,  physiology,  hygiene,  and  physical  education. 

4b.  Mental  and  physical  defects;  medical  inspection  of  school  children. 

5.  Social  aspects  of  school  work. 

15.  The  special  class — observation  and  discussion. 
The  Systematic  Course. 

6.  General  psychology — first  year. 

7.  Genetic  psychology — second  year. 

8.  Laboratory  course  A — first  year. 

9.  Laboratory  course  B — second  year. 
Advanced  Courses. 

10.  Experimental  psychology. 

11.  Child  psychology. 

12.  Social  research  in  clinical  psychology. 

13.  Tests  and  measurements  of  children. 

For  a  detailed  description  of  these  courses  see  "Courses  in  Psychology  at  the 
Summer  School  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,"  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL 
CLINIC,  Vol.  IV,  No.  9,  February  15,  1911,  pp.  245-273. 


CLINICAL  PSYCHOLOGY.  273 

advised  that  this  is  the  most  satisfactory  procedure. 
Teachers  who  feel  that  they  have  the  ability  to  go  far 
in  this  work  should  be  urged  to  make  every  sacrifice 
to  get  the  complete  course.  But  our  work  has  been  and 
I  believe  ought  to  be  so  arranged  that  students  even 
without  this  grounding  in  psychology  can  directly 
apply  themselves  to  the  practical  problems  with 
immediate  profit  to  themselves  and  ultimately  to  their 
pupils. 

There  is  every  reason  to  give  serious  consideration 
to  the  professional  training  of  teachers  in  psychology. 
At  the  summer  school  of  1910  the  aggregate  enrollment 
in  all  courses  offered  by  the  Department  of  Psychology 
numbered  84.  At  the  summer  school  of  1911  this 
number  had  increased  to  221.  Many  of  these  students 
were  teachers  who  were  sent  to  us  and  whose  expenses 
were  paid  by  their  local  school  boards.  All  of  them 
were  earnest  students,  who  were  devoting  their  entire 
time  during  the  summer  school  to  the  courses  in 
psychology.  Quite  a  large  number  who  had  come 
intending  to  get  what  they  could  from  a  single  year's 
work  in  the  practical  courses  in  psychology,  acting 
upon  our  advice  entered  upon  the  introductory  and 
systematic  course  for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  a  solid 
foundation  in  psychological  principles  before  taking 
up  their  application  to  school  room  practice  with  back- 
ward children.  Not  all  of  them  could  afford  to  post- 


274  BACKWARD  CHILDREN. 

pone  the  work  in  which  they  were  more  directly 
interested,  and  so  they  made  their  selection  from  the 
practical  courses  in  educational  psychology,  clinical 
psychology,  abnormal  psychology,  social  aspects  of 
school  work,  and  the  observation  of  the  special  class. 
Other  students  came  to  the  courses  with  a  different 
angle  of  interest, — school  principals  and  even  super- 
intendents seeking  the  latest  information  in  clinical 
psychology,  as  well  as  grade  teachers,  school  nurses, 
social  workers,  a  few  physicians  and  members  of  the 
ministry,  some  interested  in  the  abnormal  psychology, 
others  in  the  social  psychology,  and  still  others 
asking  only  such  a  brief  survey  of  modern  psychology 
as  was  given  in  the  course  entitled  educational 
psychology. 

A  worth-while  psychology  for  teachers  of  back- 
ward children  will  be  a  worth-while  psychology  for 
all  who  are  interested  in  the  welfare  of  children. 
The  ungraded  or  special  classes  for  backward  children 
are  only  the  beginning  of  a  modern  educational  move- 
ment, the  beginning  indeed  of  a  social  progress  move- 
ment. Already  attention  is  being  directed  toward  the 
exceptionally  gifted  child  and  toward  other  types  of 
exceptional  children,  those  who  enter  late,  foreign 
children,  children  requiring  special  vocational  train- 
ing, etc.  The  backward  child  will  show  us  the  edu- 
cational way  for  all  children.  Whatever  we  may  think 


CLINICAL  PSYCHOLOGY.  275 

of  the  value  of  Montessori's  work,  her  experiment  has 
awakened  widespread  interest,  and  there  is  great 
significance  in  the  fact  that  she  began  this  work  with 
feebleminded  children  and  then  added  to  her  practical 
experience  a  thorough  grounding  in  psychology.  She 
is  now  able  to  apply  to  normal  children  the  method 
she  worked  out  psychologically  on  backward  children. 
Teachers  of  exceptional  children,  those  at  least  who  are 
familiar  with  the  psychological  principles  of  individual 
training,  will  without  doubt  inspire  the  most  brilliant 
educational  advances  of  the  near  future.  School 
progress  will  be  discovered  to  be  the  best  and  surest 
kind  of  social  progress.  The  individualization  of  the 
pupil  going  hand  in  hand  with  the  socialization  of  the 
schools  will  make  education  at  once  the  greatest  single 
force  leading  to  social  betterment  and  the  medium  in 
which  diverse  social  forces  will  best  play  their  allotted 
parts.  To  fit  our  children  for  the  next  world, — the 
better  world  which  they  will  make  to  replace  this 
present  world  of  our  making:  this  surely  is  to  find 
the  gateway  to  race  progress. 


OF  CALIFOB 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


Y    2     1936 


RECTD  LD 


MAR    6195:. 


7 


INTER-LIBRARK 


9     19;: 


25  1971 


REC'D  LD 


FEB3     1959 


21 


ftpR   2  1 


LD  21-100m-7,'33 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


